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HISTORY 



Of 



WORCESTER, 



MASSACHUSETTS, 



FROM ITS EARLIEST SETTLEMENT TO SEPTEMBER, 183G: 



VARIOUS NOTICES RELATING TO THE HISTORY OF 
WORCESTER COUNTY. 



BY WILLIAM LINCOLN. 



' These local annals are full of little things ; names, dates, and facts : and rumors of 
every sort, which seem, at first sight, almost too trifling to be noticed : and yet, not only 
is it true, that the general historian must essentially depend on the local, to a very con- 
siderable extent, for the mass of loose seeds from which the spirit of Ms narrative should 
be laboriously distilled: but it is also true, that there is almost always a good deal of 
that spirit already made in such materials at his hand. Many of these little things which 
we speak of, are little only in size and name. They are full of iich meaning. They 
are graphic and characteristic in a high degree. They suggest far more than they say. 
They illustrate classes of men, and ages of time. They are small but brilliant lights 
on the walls of the past, pouring floods of splendor from their little niches on the vast 
abysses around them.' American Quarterly Review, June, 1836. 



WORCESTER: 
MOSES D. PHILLIPS AND COMPANY. 



Entered according to the act of Congress, in the year 1836, 

by William Lincoln, 

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of Massachusetts. 



PRINTED BY HENRY J. HOWLAND, 
WORCESTER. 



TO THE REV. AARON BANCROFT, D. D. 

Except for your warm encouragement of the general design of this 
history, without knowledge of the manner of its execution, it would have 
perished. If there is any merit in the preservation of the facts it contains, 
it is yours : the errors and mistakes are those of the compiler. On the 
completion of the work, his highest gratification is derived, from the op- 
portunity of expressing veneration for the character of the beloved pastor, 
and gratitude for the communications, which, rightly used, would have 
given value to the volume now respectfully dedicated to you, who have 
contributed more than all others to perpetuate the memory of the events 
and men of Worcester in past times. 



PREFACE. 



There are few employments of industry more humble than in the com- 
pilation of local annals. It should be permitted to him who has finished 
his task, to explain why it was undertaken, and how it has been accom- 
plished. 

In 1792, a memoir of four pages, by Timothy Paine, William Young, 
Edward Bangs, and Samuel Stearns, relating to Worcester, was commu- 
nicated to the Massachusetts Historical Society, and published in the 
volume of their collections for that year. The materials furnished by these 
gentlemen, were transferred by the Rev. Peter Whitney to his History of 
the County. The sermons of the Rev. Dr. Bancroft in 1811, 1825, and 
1836, and the Address of Hon. John Davis, May 2, .1 825, with their append- 
ed notes and documents, contain many facts illustrative of civil and eccle- 
siastical condition. These weie the only printed narratives of the settle- 
ment and progress of Worcester. It seemed desirable, while it was yet 
possible, to gather the fast fading traditions and scattered records of the 
past, and preserve more full view of our local history, than was permitted 
by the limits of religious discourse and festival address, or accorded with 
the plan of former writers. 

To accomplish this object, the files and records of the colonial and pro- 
vincial governments ; of the original proprietors ; of the town, and its par- 
ishes, churches, and societies ; of the county courts and registries : md the 
series of newspapers from their commencement, have been examined : pri- 
vate journals and papers, the recollections of the aged inhabitants, the 
treasures of the garrets, and the knowledge of the race in active life, have 
been collected, with some labor. In the execution of the work the result 
of these examinations, there has been no effort for literary excellence, and 
none can be expected. The primary purpose has been accuracy. In the 
multitude of facts and dates there will doubtless be found many and great 
errors : it will be consolation when they are discovered, that they have 
not resulted from want of disposition or exertion to be correct. Reliance 
has seldom been placed on tradition, when it was not confirmed by better 
evidence, or corroborated by the concurrent testimony of records. Wher- 
ever it has been practicable, reference has been made to the authority for 
statements, that their truth might be tested. 



PREFACE. vi 

The work has heen extended diffusely, and probably tediously and 
unprofitable The events of the history of the town were^closely inter- 
woven with those of the county, and seemed to demand detailed notice 
from this connection: and at every step, matters of curious interest, which 
it seemed impossible to reject, arose to seduce from the direct path of 
narrative : until the annals of the village have become as voluminous as 
the records of an empire. 

The language of original papers has been constantly preferred, wherever 
it could be used, to the words of the compiler; lest by changing forms of 
expression, something of the fidelity of delineation and vividness of de- 
scription of the actors in the scenes of the past, should be lost. The modes 
of spelling, which were erroneous in the days when they were used, have 
not been retained: but the ancient documents transcribed, except those 
copied in the appendix, have been made to conform to modern orthography 
Names of persons and places have been printed as they were fowTd writ- 
ten in the manuscripts consulted, or books quoted: although by following 
this rule, the same word has been made to assume various and sometimes 
strange forms, on different pages. 

The general plan of arrangement, affording convenience in tracing the 
course and connection of events, and facility of reference, has been imi- 
tated from Mr. Shattuck's History of Concord. It would have been greatly 
desirable that the excellence of this model could have been more fully 
copied. , } 

The comparative length of the biographical memoirs will be found some- 
times to have been determined more by the means of information than 
the merits of the subjects of the sketches. In relation to livinglpersons, 
the dates of birth have, with few exceptions, been intentionally omitted. 

The pleasant duty of acknowledgment for kindness remains. Some to 
whom heavy debt of gratitude was due for aid, have gone down to the 
grave while these sheets have been in preparation, with the rich mines of 
their recollections unexhausted. 

There is scarcely an individual named in the succeeding pa^es who 
has not contributed good wishes or useful information. The compiler has 
been under great obligations to Rev. Dr. Bancroft, Mr. Thomas Rice, Ed- 
ward D. Bangs, Esq. Hon. Nathaniel Paine, Samuel Jen^on, Esq! Dr 

t ? Tw u aa ! ^\ ESq -'' t0 thG ClGrks ° f the town ™* Pushes; and 
to Joseph Willard, Esq. Mr. Samuel G. Drake, and Rev. Joseph B. Felt 
of Boston, for many courtesies, communications, and valuable papers 

A notice of the errors of the pen and press which have escaped co'rrec- 
wT ^ T a l thG Gnd ° f the b0 ° L Some ' which wffl be readily 
ontrdinlhelisr ' "" ******* "-aning of the text, have beeJ 



CONTENTS. 



GENERAL HISTORY. Po-gf- 

Chapter I. First Period, from 1664 to 1G75: first settlement. Grants to In- 
crease Nowell and Thomas Noyes. Report of exploring Committee, 1668. 
Petition of Corumittee of settlement, 1669. Project for settlement. Difficulties 
with Ephraim Curtis, 1674. Indian deed. Grants of lands to settlers, 1675. 
View of the plantation, in 1675. Hostilities with the Indians. Settlement 
abandoned. 1 

Chapter II, King Philip's war, 1575, 1676. The Nipmuck country. Indian 
Settlements. Visit of Gookin and Elliot. Attack on Quaboag. Ephraim 
Curtis. Phinehas Upham. Henchman's expedition. Quinsigamond burnt. 
Henchman's second expedition. Sagamore John surrenders. Matoonus shot. 
Executions in Boston. Destruction of the Indians. 16 

Chapter III. 1677 to 1713. Second settlement. Indian deed, 1677. Meeting 
of Planters, 1678. Henchman's agreement, 1684. Citadel. Survey. Mills 
built. Name of Worcester. Lots laid out. New Committees. Capt. Fitch's 
letter. Queen Anne's war. Town abandoned. Digory Serjent killed, Elisha 
Ward, Indian Hostilities. Petition for resettlement refused, 1709, 28 

Chapter IV. 1713 to 1722. Third settlement to incorporation. Petition, 1713. 
New Committee. Report, 1714. First Settlers. Jonas Rice. Gershom Rice. 
Nathaniel Moore. Garrisons. Mills. Roads. View of the town, 1718. Grants 
to proprietors. Scotch and Irish emigrants. Town incorporated, 1722. 40 

Chapter V. 1722 to 1765. Lovell's war and French wars. Selectmen's peti- 
tion, 1724. Gershom Rice's letter, 1724. Uriah Ward. Col. Chandler's orders. 
Selectmen's petition, 1725. Capt. Wright's letters, 1725. Benjamin Flagg's 
letter, 1725. County established, 1731. Gov. Belcher's visit, 1735. Soldiers. 
Excise, 1754. French neutrals, 1755. Military exertions, 1756. Col. Chan- 
dler's report, 1757. Men in service during French wars. Division of the Coun- 
ty and removal of the courts opposed. 50 
Chapter VI. 1765 to 1775. American Revolution. Instructions, 1766, 1767. 
Resolutions, 1768. Covenant, 1768. Tea. Votes, 1773. Committee of Cor- 
respondence, 1773. Political Society. Peter Oliver. Address of Grand Jury, 
1774. Report on grievances, 1774. Instructions. Protest of royalists. Town 
Meeting. Record expunged. Non-consumption covenant and oath. Manda- 
mus counsellors. Assembly of the people. Alarm. Minute men. Courts 
stopped. County Convention. Sheriff Chandler. William Campbell. Instruc- 
tions. Blacksmith's Convention. Depot of military stores. 67 
Chapter VII. 1775 to 1783. American Revolution. Preparations for war. 
Instructions, 1775. Survey of British officers. Commencement of hostilities. 
Alarm of April 19. March of minute men. Tories disarmed. Memorial of 
officers. Royalist confessions. Clark Chandler. British prisoners. Poor of 
Boston. Military requisitions. Fourth of July, 1776. Regulation of piices. 
Detail of levies of troops, contributions, exertions, and proceedings, during the 
war. County conventions. Constitution. Excise. Peace restored. Pro- 
ceedings as to refugees. 104 
Chapter VIII. 1782 to 1787. Insurrection. Distresses of the people. County 
Conventions, 17S2, 1784, 1786. Court stopped, Sept. 1786. Spirited conduct of 
Judge Ward. Proceedings of the insurgents. Convention, Sept. 1786. Town 
meeting, Oct. 1786. Court of Sessions interrupted. Sheriff Grecnlcaf. In- 



viii CONTENTS. 

surgents occupy the town, Dec. 1786. Militia of Worcester appear in arms for 
the government. Capt. Howe. Consultations of the insurgents. Distresses of 
their retreat. Gen. Lincoln's army. Affair at New Braintree. Dispersion of 
the insurgents. *30 

Chapter IX. Reception of Washington, 1789. Memorial on the treaty with 
England, 1797. Volunteers, 1798. Funeral honors to Washington, 1800. Mi- 
litia volunteer, 1807. Boston memorial, 1808. War of 1812. British prison- 
ers. Troops called into service, 1814. Visit of Lafayette, 1824.. Amendments 
of the Constitution. Benefactions of Isaiah Thomas. Incorporation of Holden 
and Ward. Proposed division of the county. 151 

ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 

Chapter X. First Parish. First meeting houses. Rev. Andrew Gardner. 
Difficulties on his dismission. Mr. Bourne. Rev. Isaac Burr. Visit of White- 
field. Church Covenant, 174G. Rev. Thaddeus Maccarty. Controversy about 
church music. Seating the meeting house. Difficulties ending in the separation 
of the Second Parish. Mr. Story. Rev. Samuel Austin. Church Covenant. 
Rev. Charles A. Goodrich. Rev. Aretius B. Hull. Rev. Rodney A. Miller. 
Presbyterian Church, 1719. Rev. Edward Fitzgerald. Rev. William Johnston. 163 

Chapter XI. Second Congregational Society. Separation from the first Parish. 
Difficulties. Church formed. Covenant. Rev. Aaron Bancroft ordained, 1786. 
Society incorporated, 1787. Rev. Alonzo Hill ordained, 1827. Votes of Par- 
ish and Church. Memoir of Rev. Dr. Bancroft. 194 

Chapter XII. First Baptist Society. Formation, 1812. Rev. William Bentley. 
Articles of Faith. Rev. Jonathan Going. Rev. Frederic A. Willard. Rev. 
Jonathan Aldrich. Elm Street Society, 1836. Calvinist Society. Separation 
from first church, 1820. Formation of Society, 1822. Rev. Loammi I. Hoadley. 
House and Fund bestowed by Hon. Daniel Waldo. Rev. John S. C. Abbott. 
Rev. David Peabody. Catholic Society, 1834. Rev. James Filton. Methodist 
Episcopal Society, 1831. Protestant Episcopal Society, 1835. Rev. Thomas 
H. Vail. Union Society, 1836. 205 

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICES. 

Chapter XIII. Professional Men. Biographical notices of the Practitioners, 
Counsellors and Attorneys at Law, and Physicians, before and since the Revo- 
lution. 224 

Chapter XIV. Graduates of Colleges, and natives of the town who have re- 
ceived liberal education. Distinguished citizens. John Chandler. Capt. Jonas 
Hubbard. Col. Timothy Bigelow. Col. Ephraim Doolittle. David Thomas. 
Benjamin Heywood. Joseph Allen. Isaiah Thomas. 264 

STATISTICS AND HISTORY. 

Chapter XV. Education. Common Schools. Centre District Schools. Pri- 
vate Instruction. Manual Labor High School. Mount St. James Seminary. 296 

Chapter XV. Population. Emigration. Mortality. Valuation. Taxation. 
Support of the Poor. Communication. Stages. Manufactures. Trade. 310 

Chapter XVI. Societies and Institutions. Medical District Society. Antiqua- 
rian Society. Agricultural Society. Historical Society. Atheneum. Banks. 
Insurance Companies. Savings Institution. Various Associations. Military 
Companies. Newspapers and Periodicals. 323 

TOPOGRAPHY AND HISTORY. 

Chapter XVII. Situation. Boundaries. Extent. Divisions. Streets and 
Roads. Turnpikes. Blackstone Canal. Rail Roads. Public Buildings. Pub- 
lic Lands. Burial Places. Face of the Town. Ponds. Streams. Hills. 
Mines and Minerals. 336 

MISCELLANEOUS. 

Chapter XVIII. Municipal Officers. Selectmen. Clerks. Treasurers. Rep- 
resentatives. Fire Department. Fires and accidents by lightning. 356 

Appendix, i. Petition for a Plantation, Oct. 8,1665. n. Order of the Gen- 
eral Court, Oct. 11, 1665. in. Orderof the General Court, May, 15, 1667, IV. 
First Indian Deed, July 13, 1674. v. Order of Council to Capt. Edward Hutch- 
inson, July 27, 1675. vi. Order of Council, Sept. 15,1675. vu. Instructions 
for Capt. Joseph Sill, Nov. 2, 1675. Tin. Second Indian Deed, Feb. 12, 1677. 
ix Order of the General Court, 1679. x. Votes for Governor since 1780. 
xi. Notice of Daniel Shays. xn, Statements in relation to trade, manufac- 
tures, and business, xm. Executions, xiv. Festivals. Fourth of July. 363 



HISTORY OF WORCESTER. 



GENERAL HISTORY. 



CHAPTER I. 

First Period, from 1664 to 1G75 : first settlement. Grants to Increase Nowell and 
Thomas Noyes. Report of exploring Committee, 16G8. Petition of Committee of 
settlement, 1G69. Project for settlement. Difficulties with Ephraim Curtis, 1674. 
Indian deed. Grants of lands to settlers, 1675. View of the plantation, in 1675. 
Hostilities with the Indians. Settlement abandoned. 

Few years elapsed after the first settlement of Massachusetts be- 
fore the outposts of cultivation were advanced far and fast into 
the wilderness. The stream of emigration soon began to flow 
westward from its fountain. Eight years after the landing of the 
Pilgrims, in 1628, Salem was planted. The next year, Lynn was 
inhabited. In 1630, Boston was founded, and Cambridge and Wa- 
tertown occupied. Concord was purchased of the natives and com- 
menced in 1635. Sudbury, begun in 1638, sent out colonies to 
Marlborough, incorporated in 1660. The swelling population push- 
ed farther onward the frontier of improvement. The fertile region 
around Worcester early attracted attention. When the title of the 
vast region, acquired from the defeated savage, vested, by undis- 
puted right, in the whole people, the wise policy of government 
encouraged settlement, while it rewarded patriotic exertions in 
the public service, and aided objects and institutions of general 
utility, by gratuities of portions of the forest. In 1657, May 6, a 
grant of 3200 acres of land was made to Mr. Increase Nowell, of 
Charlestown. 1 May 6, 1662, 2 1000 acres were bestowed on the 
church in Maiden, to be forever appropriated to the use of its minis- 

1 Colony Records, iv. 240. 2 ib. iv. 397. 

1 



2 GRANTS. COMMITTEE. [1G(54. 

try : Oct. 19, 1664, 250 acres were given to Ensign Thomas Noyes, 
of Sudbury, who had served under Capt. Hugh Mason. 1 These 
were all, subsequently, located in the vicinity of Quinsigamond.' 3 
The favorable impression from the surveys, excited enterprize to un- 
dertake that plantation, which long retained the original name, bor- 
rowed from the beautiful sheet of water spreading in the neighbor- 
hood of the settlement. 

John Haynes and Josiah Haynes, of Sudbury, and Nathaniel 
Treadaway, of Watertown, with Thomas Noyes, purchased the right 
of Increase Nowell, of his Executors, and, on the 18th of May, 1664, 
having procured the acceptance of a return, became proprietors of 
a wide tract, extending along the east side of Quinsigamond, inclu- 
ding two of its southern islands, near ' the going out of Nipnapp 
River.' :! They petitioned the Great and General Court for the ap- 
pointment of a Committee, to view the country. In compliance with 
their request, Capt. Daniel Gookin, Capt. Edward Johnson, Lt. 
Joshua Fisher and Lt. Thomas Noyes, were commissioned, Oct. 
11, 166-3, 4 to make survey, to determine if there be a ' meet place 
for a plantation, that it may be improved for that end, and not spoiled 
by granting of farms,' and directed to report the results of their 
examination to the next Court of Elections. 

The death of Thomas Noyes, which occurred soon after, and 
the difficulties arising from the disturbed state of the country, hav- 
ing prevented the execution of this order, the attention of the colo- 
nial legislature was again directed to the contemplated settlement, 
in 1667. On the loth of May 5 of that year, Capt. Daniel Gookin, 
Capt. Edward Johnson, Mr. Samuel Andrew, and Andrew Belchar 
senior, were empowered, as a Committee, ' to take an exact view, 
as soon as conveniently they can, to make true report whether the 
place be capable to make a village, and what number of families, 
they conceive, may be there accommodated. And if they find it fit 
for a plantation, then to offer some meet expedient how the same 
may be settled and improved for the public good.' 

1 Colony Records, iv. 461. 

2 The orthography of Indian names is quite uncertain. The same word is not only 
written in different manner by contemporary authors, but assumes various shapes in the 
same instrument. The ancient name of Worceste r appears in these, among other forms : 
Quansiggemuck, Quinsigamug, Quansicamoag, Quansitamud, Quonsiquomon, Quan- 
sigamon, Q,uansiquomog, Quanciggugug, Quonsogogoag. Quinsigamond, has been es- 
tablished by most general use, and is therefore adopted. The true reading was proba- 
bly Qiionsisramoag. 

3 Nipmuck, now Blackstone's River. 4 Colony Ree. iv. 562. 5 ib. iv. 587. 

6 Notices of the committees of settlement, and of some of the early planters, will be 
found in the succeeding pages. 



1668.1 COMMITTEE'S REPORT. :{ 

Gookin, Johnson, and Belchar, discharged the duty assigned them, 
in the autumn of the following year, and presented a report on the 
20th Oct. 1GG8, 1 which exhibits an interesting outline of the views 
entertained in former times, and of the general principles adopted 
in the formation of towns. 

' The Committee's return about a new plantation near Quandsic- 
amond Ponds. Boston, 20 Oct. 1668. 

We have, according to the Court's order, bearing date 15th Mav, 

1667. 2 viewed the place therein mentioned, and find it to be about 
twelve miles westward from Marlborough, near the road to Spring- 
field, and that it contains a tract of very good chesnut tree land ; a 
large quantity : but the meadow we find not so much ; because a 
very considerable quantity of meadow and upland, about, five thou- 
sand acres, is laid out unto particular persons, and confirmed by 
this Court, as we are informed, which falls within this tract of land; 
viz ; to Ensign Noyes deceased and his brethren, three thousand 
two hundred acres : unto the church of Maiden, one thousand 
acres : unto others, five hundred acres, bought of Ensign Noyes ; but, 
all this notwithstanding, we conceive, there may be enough mead- 
ow for a small plantation, or town, of about thirty families : and if 
those farms be annexed to it, it may supply about sixty families. 
Therefore, we conceive it expedient, that the honored Court will be 
pleased to reserve it for a town, being conveniently situated, and well 
watered with ponds and brooks, and lying near midway between Bos- 
ton and Springfield, about one day's journey from either : and, for the 
settling thereof we do offer unto the Court that which follows : viz : 

That there be a meet proportion of land granted and laid out for 
a town, in the best form the place will bear, about the contents of 
eight miles square : 

That a prudent and able committee be appointed and empowered 
to lay it out : to admit inhabitants, and order the affairs of the place, 
in forming the town, granting lots, and directing and ordering all 
matters of a prudential nature, until the place be settled with a suf- 
ficient number of inhabitants and persons of discretion, able to or- 
der the affairs thereof, in the judgment of the Court : 

That due care be taken by the said Committee, that a good Min- 
ister of God's word be placed there, as soon as may be : that such 
people as may be there planted may not live like lambs in a large place : 

That there be two or three hundred acres of land, with a propor- 
tion of meadow, in some convenient place, at the discretion of the 

1 Col. Rec. iv. 62*. « Col. Rec. iv. Ml. 



4 CLAIM OF CURTIS. [166V>. 

Committee, reserved, and laid out for the Commonwealth ; and the 
Committee to have power and liberty to settle inhabitants thereupon, 
for lives or times, upon a small rent, to be paid after the first seven 
years.' Daniel Gookin. 

Edward Johnson. 

Andrew Belchar. 

This report was approved and accepted, its recommendations con- 
firmed, and Capt. Daniel Gookin, Capt. Thomas Prentice, Mr. Dan- 
iel Henchman, and Lt. Richard Beers, appointed a Committee to 
carry them into execution. 

At the distance of more than a century and a half, when we see 
the hills and vallies of the ' very good chesnut tree land' explored 
by the committee, thickly dotted with the homes of the husband- 
man and the villages of the manufacturer, traversed by canal and 
railway, and supporting a dense population, their estimate of the ca- 
pacity of the tract, eight miles square, to maintain thirty or sixty 
families, furnishes strong contrast between their humble anticipa- 
tions and our overflowing prosperity. 

At the period when the examination took place, meadow lands 
were esteemed of high value, and were, indeed, essential for the 
support of the new settlements. The low grounds, cleared of woods 
by the industry of the beaver, erecting dams to flood their surfaces ; 
by the waste of fires kindled by the hunter ; or the action of streams ; 
afforded the only pasturage that could be obtained, until the forest had 
been hewn away, and the herbage rose upon the cultivated fields. 

Notwithstanding, the Great and General Court, by their order, 
May 15, 1G67, had prohibited the laying out of lands within the new 
plantation, a location had been subsequently made, in right of Ensign 
Noyes. His heirs had sold to Ephraim Curtis, of Sudbury, after- 
ward distinguished for his gallantry and good conduct in the war 
with the Indians. The Committee, embarrassed by the selections 
made by the claimants under the old grants, on the 27th of May, 
1669, 1 presented the following petition for relief from the difficulties 
which had arisen, to retard the progress of settlement. 

' We, the Committee of the General Court, whose names are sub- 
scribed, being appointed and empowered to lay out, settle and man- 
age a plantation, at or about Quansigamond Pond, twelve miles be- 
yond Marlborough, in the road way to Springfield and Hadley, which 
place is very commodious for the situation of a town, the better to 

1 Col. Rec. iv. 426. 



1669.] COMMITTEE'S PETITION. 5 

unite and strengthen the inland plantations, and, in all probability, 
will be advantageous for travellers, it falling near midway between 
Boston and Springfield, and about a day's journey from either ; we, 
having lately been upon the place, to make an exact discovery and 
survey thereof, accompanied with sundry honest and able persons 
that are willing forthwith to settle themselves there : but finding 
some obstructions in the work, which, unless this Court please to re- 
move, and, we conceive, they may justly do it, the proceeding will 
be utterly hindered ; and, therefore, we shall humbly offer them un- 
to the honored Court, desiring help therein : 

1. We find, that, though the place contains a tract of good land, 
yet, it is much straitened for meadow. We cannot find above three 
hundred acres of meadow belonging to it, within several miles : but, 
there are swamps and other moist lands, that, in time, with labor and 
industry, may make meadow. 

2. We find, that there is a grant of one thousand acres to the 
ministry of Maiden, May the 7th, 1662, which grant is laid out in 
this place. This farm contains a choice tract of land, and swallows 
up about one hundred acres of the aforesaid meadow ; but the con- 
dition of the grant, as the record will declare, is, that it be improv- 
ed, within three years after the grant, for the ends wherefore it was 
granted ; but that being not done ; for it is now above six years 
since, and no improvement made ; we apprehend, the grant is void : 
but yet, if the Court please to renew it, in any other place, we speak 
not to oppose it : but, if it be continued and confirmed in this place, 
it will utterly hinder the settling of a plantation here. 

3. There is another grant of land, unto Ensign Noyes, deceas- 
ed, laid out in this place, containing two hundred fifty acres of 
choice land, with a considerable quantity of meadow, lying in the 
heart of this place ; and by him was sold to one Ephraim Curtis, a 
young man living in Sudbury. We desire that the Court will please 
to make void this grant ; being not laid out regularly for quantity 
or quality, as we conceive, and it will very much prejudice this 
town. The person concerned may have his land in another place, 
bordering upon this town, where there is sufficient to accommo- 
date it, and also may have a lot in this town, if he desire it. 

4. Whereas, the Court, in their grant of this town, hath reserv- 
ed two or three hundred acres of land, with a proportion of meadow, 
to be laid out for the Commonwealth ; if it please the Court, because 
of the straitness for meadow, to abate that reservation, so far as 
concerns meadow, it will greatly encourage the work. 

If the honored Court please to remove these obstructions, we 



(> PLAN OF SETTLEMENT. [1669. 

hope it will not bo long before this place be settled in a good way, 
for the honor of God and the public good. 

The Committee, in their journey, having discovered two other pla- 
ces beyond this to the westward, that will make two or three towns, 
the one place called Pamaquesset, lying upon the head of Chequa- 
bee River, the other place called Swquakeag, 1 upon Connecticut 
River nearer to Boston than Hadley, we desire the Court will please 
to order that these places be reserved to make towns, the better to 
strengthen those inland parts, and the laying out of particular grants 
prohibited in the said places.' 

Daniel Henchman, Daniel Gookin, 

Richard Beers, Thomas Prentice. 

The reservation to the public in the meadow was released, but the 
petition, in relation to the private grants, was refused. 

The progress of the Committee of settlement in the discharge of 
their duties was, necessarily, slow, and, for a long time, their efforts 
were defeated by calamitous circumstances. Their first meeting 
was held in Cambridge, July 6th, 1G69, when apian was formed for 
the projected plantation. The foundation principles and rules they 
matured are entered on their original book of records, in the hand 
writing of the venerable Gookin, and indicate the wisdom and fore- 
cast of their authors. It was proposed, that the territory, including 
the whole of Worcester and Holden, and a large part of Ward, should 
first be divided into ninety twenty five acre house lots, and, in the 
apportionment of these to the settlers, ' respect should be had to 
the quality, estate, usefulness, and other considerations of the per- 
son and family to whom they were granted :' that the most conve- 
nient place, nearest the middle of the town, should be set apart 
and improved for placing the meeting house, for the worship of 
God : a convenient lot of fifty acres for the first minister, should be 
laid out as near to it as might be : another lot, in the next convenient 
place, not far from thence, for the ministry that should succeed in 
all future times : that twenty acres should be reserved, near the cen- 
tre, for a training field, and to build a school house upon : that a lot, 
of twenty five acres, should be appropriated for the maintenance of 
a school and school master, to remain for that use forever : and that 
two hundred and fifty acres, should be for the use of the country. 
Provision was made for the equal apportionment of common charges 
upon the proprietors of lot?, for erecting mills, opening and repair- 
ing ways, and for the equitable division of the remaining lands. 2 

I Northfield. 2 Proprietors' Records. 3. 



1674. J PETITION OF PLANTERS. 7 

Subsequent events prevented the practical effects of these regula- 
tions from being felt in the affairs of the inhabitants, except in the 
example and aid they might have afforded to those who directed their 
prudential concerns in more prosperous days. 

The exertions of the Committee to procure settlement, seem, for 
a long period, to have been unavailing. At length, brighter pros- 
pects opened before them. In the year 1673, a company of thirty 
persons were engaged to commence the plantation, and, in the fol- 
lowing spring, thirty house lots were laid out, and they began to 
build and cultivate. Ephraim Curtis of Sudbury had, probably, 
previous to this time, taken possession of the rich tract of land near 
the centre of the present town of Worcester, and had erected a 
house on the ' Connecticut road ' west of the head of Quinsiga- 
mond. So great was the obstruction encountered from his claims, 
that the Committee were compelled, again, to ask the aid of the 
legislature, in removing the vexatious incumbrance arising from 
his rights and pretentions. The following petition, subscribed by 
those who proposed to become inhabitants, was presented by them, 
on the 27th of May, 1674. 1 

' To the Ilon'ble the Governor, Deputy Governor, Assistants and 
Deputies, assembled in the General Court of the Massachusetts Col- 
ony in New England, this 27th of May, 1674. 

The humble petition of Daniel Gookin senior, Thomas Prentice, 
Richard Beers, and Daniel Henchman, a committee, appointed and 
authorized by the General Court, to order and manage a new planta- 
tion granted by this Court, lying and being upon the road to Spring- 
field, about twelve miles westward from Marlborough, together with 
divers other persons hereunto subscribed, who have lots granted 
and laid out there, humbly sheweth : 

That, whereas, your petitioners have been at a very considerable 
expense, both of time and estate, in order to settle a plantation there ; 
which, they conceive, when it is effected, will more conduce to the 
public good of the country than their particular advantage ; and 
have so far advanced in that work, as to lay out about thirty house 
lots, and engage the people to settle them speedily : also have be- 
gun to build, plant, and cut hay there ; but now, meeting with an 
obstruction and hinderance, by a young man called Ephraim Curtis, 
of Sudbury, who does lay claim unto two tracts of land, containing 
above five hundred acres, lying in the centre of this plantation, es- 
pecially one of the parcels, being about 250 acres, in which place 

1 Colony Files, 1G71. 



8 COMMITTEE AND PLANTERS' PETITION. [1074. 

the Committee have laid out a minister's lot, a place for a meeting 
house, a mill, and ten other particular men's house lots, so that if 
this place be taken from us, this town is not like to proceed, to the 
damage of the public and your petitioners : now, although, we can- 
not grant that the said Curtis hath any legal right to debar our pro- 
ceeding, yet, for peace sake, we have offered him, a double share 
in the plantation, viz. two house lots, and accommodations to them, 
which will, in the end, amount to much more land than he pretends 
unto ; but all offers he declines : Therefore, 

Our humble request unto the Court is, that you will be pleased to 
order, that the said Curtis may be sent for, and that both him, and 
your Committee, may be [examined] either before some Committee 
of the Court, thereunto to report the matter, or by the whole Court : 
for the substance of the case will, as we conceive, turn upon this 
hinge; whether an order of the General Court, dated in May 1CG7, 
prohibiting the laying out any particular grants in this place, in or- 
der to reserve it for a village, shall be of force and efficacy to nulli- 
fy the acceptance of a particular grant laid out in this place, as is 
pretended, a year after ; namely, at a Court held Anno 16GS ; the 
untying of this knot, which none can do but the General Court, 
will resolve the matter of controversy one way or other ; so that this 
town will proceed or cease, and that your Committee, and others 
concerned, may not be wrapt up in trouble and contention about 
this matter, whose scope and aim is, the public good, and that the 
good of many may be preferred before one, wherein we have no 
cause to doubt of this honored Court's favor and encouragement. 
And so your petitioners desire in all humility to pray &x, for you. 
Phinehas Upham, Daniel Whittamore, Jona. Treadaway, 
Richard Dana, PalatiahWhittamore, Joseph Dana, 

John Damond, John Richards, Thomas Brown, 

Philip Atwood, Joseph Richards, William Hersy, 

Thomas Tewksbury, William Reed, Jno. Provender, 

Symon Meylin, Samuel Lee, Edward Wildes, 

Lazarus Grover, Thomas Pratt, Jno. Wilder, 

Thomas Grover, Thomas Skinner, Theophilus Thornton, 
Stephen Grover, Henry Swillaway, Thomas Thornton. 
Lyman Grover, John Starkey, 

Daniel Gookin, sen. Thomas Prentice, Ric. Beers. 
D. Henchman, 

In compliance with this petition, the parties were heard before the 
deputies and magistrates, their evidence and arguments considered, 



1674.] CURTIS'S CLAIM. 9 

and the controversy determined, by the equitable decision expressed 
in the following order, June 5, 1674. 

' In answer to the petition of Capt. Daniel Gookin, Capt. Pren- 
tice, Lieut. Richard Beers and Mr. Henchman, and as a full issue of 
the case between the said petitioners and Ephraim Curtis ; The Dep- 
uties judge meet, that the said Curtis shall have fifty acres of the 
land that is already laid out to him, where he hath built, so it be in 
one place, with all manner of accommodation appertaining thereto 
as other inhabitants have. And also, that he shall have liberty to 
take up the 250 acres of land without the bounds of said place, pro- 
vided it be near adjoining thereunto : and to be in lieu of the land 
formerly granted to Mr. John Norton : and all this with reference to 
the consent of our honored Magistrates hereto. 

William Torrey, Cleric' 

'5.4. 1674. 1 The Magistrates consent hereto, provided that the 
250 acres to be laid out, without the bounds of the place, be under- 
stood without the bounds of the town ; and that the fifty acres 
where he hath built, be laid out and ordered by the Committee for 
said plantation as other lots there are. John Pynchon, p. Order.' 

< June 5, 1674. Consented to by the deputies. Wm. Torrey, Cleric.' 2 

The adverse claim of Curtis having been thus quieted, the grant 
of the future town secured, and the rules for conducting the settle- 
ment established, the next care of the Committee was to extinguish 
the title of the Indians, then numerous in the vicinity, that neigh- 
bors so dangerous and powerful might be propitiated. A deed ol 

J 5th monthy4th day : June 15, 1G74, new style. 

By Stat. 24. Geo. II. Colony Laws 579, for regulating the commencement of the 
year and correcting the calendar, the style was changed. It was enacted, that from the 
last day of December, 1751, the year should be considered as beginning on the first day 
of January, and that the day following the second of September, 1752, should be called 
the fifteenth, omitting eleven intermediate nominal days. 

Previous to this act, the year was considered as commencing on the 25th of March, 
the Lady day, or Annunciation of the church. According to the ancient reckoning, 
March was the. first, and February the last month. 

The' correction of the calendar, made by Pope Gregory XIII, in 1582, was immedi- 
ately adopted in catholic countries. Although not established in England until 1752, it 
was customary to indicate the change by double dates, between the 1st of January and 
the 25th of March : thus, March 24, 1674-5, would have been written ; the day being 
after the commencement of 75, new style, and before the end of 74, old style. 

To adjust the difference of style, eleven days are to be added to all dates previous to 
Sept. 2, 1752. 

* Colon v Files, 1G74. 



10 INDIAN DEED. [1G74. 

eight miles square, for the consideration of ' twelve pounds in law- 
ful money of New England, or the full value thereof in other specie 
to the content of the grantees, within three months after the date to 
be paid and satisfied, ' was executed, with great formality, on the 
13th of July, 1074, by Solomon, alias Woonaskochu, sagamore of 
Tataesit, and John, alias Hoorrawannonit, sagamore of Packachoag. 1 
The receipt of part of the purchase, viz. two coats and four yards of 
trucking cloth, valued at twenty six shillings, as earnest, in hand, was 
acknowledged. The conveyance was in fee, to the Committee, and 
the rest of the people admitted, or to be admitted, to be inhabitants. 
The terms, included all and every part of the natural or civil right of 
the native chiefs, in all and singular, the broken up land and wood- 
land, woods, trees, rivers, brooks, ponds, swamps, meadows, minerals, 
or things whatsoever, lying and being within the eight miles square. 
Covenants were inserted that the lands should be held without any 
let, molestation, or disturbance by the grantors or their kindred, or 
people, or any claiming under them ; and that full and ample deeds 
and writings should be made according to law on finishing the pay- 
ment. From a marginal note, attested by the venerable Gookin, it 
appears, that the full consideration was discharged, August 20th, 
1076, one half being advanced by himself, and the other moiety fur- 
nished by an assessment of one shilling the acre on the houselots of 
the proprietors. 

The acknowledgement of this deed was before Gookin himself, 
though one of the grantees ; a circumstance not remarkable in times 
of purity, when the interest of the man was not considered as af- 
fecting the uprightness of the magistrate. 

The following persons attested the instrument as subscribing wit- 
nesses. 

Onnomog, sagamore of Occonomesset, 2 now Marlborough. He 
is mentioned, Dec. 1074, 3 ' as lately deceased, about two months 
since, which is a great blow to that place. He was a pious and dis- 
creet man, and the very soul as it were of that town.' He was the 
last ruler of his tribe. 

N urn photo, sagamore of Wamessit, now Tewksbury, said by Goo- 
kin, 3 to be ' of the blood of the chief sachems.' His son Samu- 
el, was teacher of the praying Indians ; ' A young man of good 

1 Middlesex Registry of Deeds, Lib. 3, Fol. 317. 
'- This word is written by Gookin, 1 Mass. Hist. Col.i. 185, Okommakamesit: by Hutch- 
inson, quoting from Elliot, Hist. Mass. I, 156, Ogguionikongquamesut : by Rev. Mr. 
Allen, Wor. Mag, ii. 141, Ockucangansctt : and is said to have been corrupted to Ago- 
ganggomissit. 

3 1 Mass. Hist. Col. 1, 185. 



1675.] GRANTS OF LANDS. J1 

parts, and who can speak, read and write English and Indian compe- 
tently. He is one of those that was bred up at school at the charge 
of the Corporation for the Indians.' 

Joseph Thatcher, of Chabanakonkomon, 1 now Dudley, who was 
a teacher. 

Nosoonowit : a christian of Pakachoag. 

In 1G75, the work of settlement was prosecuted with vigor. About 
the middle of April, surveys were made of the lands by David Fisk 
of Cambridge, and John Flint of Concord. 2 The lines and boun- 
daries of the lots were established by actual admeasurement, and 
grants were made, confirmed and registered. Fifty acres were laid 
out to Gookin and Prentice, and twenty five to Henchman, of the 
Committee. A lot granted to Phinehas Upham, 3 July S, 1G73, was 
now described and located, * and although it should contain more 
than fifty acres, yet the Committee have confirmed it to him for a 
fifty acre lot, more or less ; and this they did upon a rule of justice 
and equity, in consideration of the labor, travel, and activity of the 
said Upham, from time to time, in furthering, advancing, and en- 
couraging the settlement of the plantation.' 4 In pursuance of 
the order of Court, fifty acres were assigned to Ephraim Curtis 
' where he had begun to build a small house.' 5 A lot of forty acres 
was appropriated for the use of the ' first, learned, pious, and or- 
thodox minister.' 6 

At this time the grants to the following persons were surveyed, 
confirmed, and recorded. The figures express the number of acres 
in each lot. 

In the west squadron or division on the north side of Connecticut 
road : Thomas Hall, 25, of Woburn : Daniel Gookin, 50; Samuel 
Gookin, 25, of Cambridge : Simon Meyling, 25; Ephraim Curtis, 
50, of Sudbury : Daniel Henchman, 25, of Boston : Dr. Leonard 
Hoar, 25, of Concord. 

In the west squadron or division on the south side the Country 
road: Phinehas Upham, 50, of Maiden : Philip Atwood, 50, of Con- 
cord : Trial Newbury, 25, of Woburn. 

In the middle squadron or division on the north side of the Coun- 

i Written Chabanakongkamun, 1 Mass. Hist. Co!. I 189. On Carleton's map of Massa- 
chusetts, it is called Chargoggagoggmanchoggagogg. This collection of syllables is di- 
vided into two words, on Reach's map of Dudley, 1 831 , and bestowed on Slater's Pond. 
2 Prop. Records, 7—12. 
3 Phinehas Upham afterwards distinguished himself in the War with Philip as Lieu- 
tenant of Infantry. He was mortally wounded in the attack on the Narraganset Fort. 
Dec. 19, 1675, and died, soon after, in Boston. 

« Prop. Rec. 8. 8 ib. 7. 8 ib. 10. 



12 VIEW OF THE SETTLEMENT. [1G75. 

try road : Thomas Broun, 50, of Sudbury : Richard Dana, 50 ; 
Jacob Dana, 25, of Watertown : Joel Jenkins, 100, of Maiden. 

In the middle division, on the south side of the Country road, east 
side mill brook: Thomas Prentice, 50, of Woburn : Benjamin Webb, 
50, of Marlborough : First Minister, 40: Benjamin Crane, 50, of 
Sudbury : Thomas Hall, 25, of Woburn. 

In the eastern squadron, lying next to the Country road to Bos- 
ton : Joseph Waigh, or Wayt, 25, of Marlborough : John Provender, 
25, of Maiden : Samuel Brigham, 25 ; John Fay, 50, of Marlbo- 
rough : Gershom Eames, 25, of Framingham : Thomas Grover, 25; 
John Paul, 50 ; John Shaw, 25, of Maiden : John Curtis, 44 ; 
Simon Meyling, 55, of Sudbury. 

Another squadron in the way to Lancaster : Michael Flagg, 25 ; 
Joshua Bigelow, 25; Joseph Beamis, 25; all of Watertown. 

Other lots granted and Indian purchase money paid but not laid 
out : William Taylor, 25, of Maiden : Jonathan Treadaway, 25, of 
Sudbury : William Adams, 25, of Concord or Sudbury. 

In 1675, 'the Country road to Connecticut' 1 as it was called, 
the highway of communication between Boston and the western set- 
tlements, entered the town near the head of the Pond, and following 
along the course of the present Shrewsbury road to its intersec- 
tion with that to Lancaster, passed westward of the route now trav- 
elled, and crossed the stream nearly a quarter of a mile above the 
Bridge. It then traversed the plain and ascended the hill west of 
the modern Court House, near where a private lane now exists. It 
was merely a path cut through the woods, practicable for passengers 
on foot and with horses. 

1 This was the new road from Marlborough, through what is now Northborough, 
Shrewsbury, and Worcester to Connecticut. The Nipmuck, or old road, passed through 
the east part of Northborough, over rock hill, east of Great and Little Chauncey Ponds, 
into Westborough, and thence through Grafton. The first house built on the new road 
west of Marlborough, was that of Col. James Eager of Northborough. In 1G74-, there 
was no human habitation on its route between Marlborough and Brookfield, except the 
wigwams on Packachoag. Wor. Mag. ii. 152. 

In the agreement of the Committee with Capt. Henchman, in IGSi, it is said 'the 
country road is to lead up where carts have gone towards the north west corner of the 
citadel, and so pass into the street, next on the westerly side, where the mills are to 
stand, that carts as well as horse may pass therein.' 

The way to Lancaster went northward from the town, nearly on the route followed by 
the present old Boston Road. 

In Wor. Mag. ii. 142 it is supposed that the village of Pakachoag was on the Con- 
necticut road. The account of Gookin shows that it was abont three miles distant, at 
this time. A highway was subsequently located, south of the ancient path, which pass- 
ed near the foot of Paka-hoa^. 



1675.] VIEW OF THE SETTLEMENT. 13 

On this road, south of the fording place, was erected, at a very 
early period, one of those edifices called block, or garrison houses, 
and denominated on the records, ' the old Indian Fort.' The 
structures for defence against the tribes prowling in the forest, so far 
as specimens have survived the waste of time, or descriptions been 
preserved by tradition, had great uniformity in construction. They 
were built of timbers hewn on the sides in contact with each other, 
firmly interlocked at the ends, and fastened together with strong pins. 
They were generally square in form and two stories in height. The 
basement was furnished with a single thick door of plank. The 
walls were perforated with narrow loop holes for the use of musket- 
ry against an approaching foe. A ladder, easily drawn up if the 
lower floor was forced, ascended to the next room, which projected 
two or three feet over on each side, having slits for infantry and wi- 
der port holes for cannon. The gentle slope of the roof afforded an 
elevated position to overlook the surrounding country, and was some- 
times crowned with a little turret for an observatory. These watch 
towers, impervious to ball or arrow, were of abundant strength to 
resist an enemy unprovided with artillery, and might defy any attack, 
except that by fire on the combustible materials. To these wooden 
castles, in the infancy of the country, the inhabitants repaired on 
the alarm of danger, and found ample protection within the rude 
fortresses, seldom reduced by the savage, of too fierce temperament 
to await the lingering progress of seige. 

The lands eastward of Main Street, in the centre of the town, had 
been flooded by the Beavers, who had established their hamlet and 
built a dam across the stream near the bridge on Front Street. It is 
probable, the tract around the head of the Blackstone Canal then 
spread like a fair prairie, free from trees and covered with the herb- 
age of the meadows. 

There were tracts which had been occupied by the Indians as 
planting grounds ; and their simple husbandry, if it did not improve 
by tillage, admitted the rays of the sun through the thick shade of 
the primeval woods to warm the soil enriched by the decayed veg- 
etation of ages. The ' Indian broken up lands ' are frequently 
mentioned in the proprietary records. The fires of the hunter, an- 
ticipating the work of the axe, had prepared fields for the plough. 

These are the only vestiges of improvement which can be traced 
as existing when the first settlers of Worcester commenced their 
labors. 

Most of those who had expressed intention to become planters 
and joined in the petition of the Committee in May, 1074, discour- 



14 PHILIP'S WAR. [1G74. 

aged by difficulties or delay, had abandoned their purpose. Of the 
persons who obtained grants, many did not discharge the purchase 
money of one shilling the acre, and but few actually removed. It 
required stout hearts to penetrate the depth of the wilderness and 
maintain residence in the immediate vicinity of the savage. 

Ephraim Curtis, who had already built, Thomas Hall, Simon 
Meyling, Phinehas Upham, Thomas Grover, Philip Atwood, Joseph 
Waight, John Provender, and perhaps some others, had arrived in 
the month of April, 1G75. Six or seven houses were erected. Nei- 
ther record nor tradition, affords information of the position of the hab- 
itations. The neighborhood of the Fort, the convenient proximity 
of water and meadow, would, it may reasonably be conjectured, have 
induced to the selection of the northern part of the present central 
settlement. 

To the edition of Hubbard's Narrative published in 1G77, is pre- 
fixed a Map of New England, being as the title expresses ' the first 
map here cut,' framed to illustrate the events of the war with Philip. 
The places ' assaulted by the Indians during the late awful revolu- 
tions of Providence ' are indicated upon this rude specimen of the 
origin of the arts in our country. The town of Worcester is thus 
distinguished. In the work it is described, as ' a village called 
Quonsigamog, in the middle way between Marlborough and Quaba- 
og, consisting of about six or seven houses.' 1 

The settlement was prosperously advancing, and the inhabitants, in 
the language of the record, ' had built after the manner of a town,' 
when the war with Philip of Mount Hope broke out in Plymouth 
colony. The conspiracy to crush the white men by a general mas- 
sacre, if, as has been asserted by the early annalists, such a com- 
bination existed, was disclosed before it had ripened to its sanguin- 
ary maturity, and the Indians were driven unprepared into the con- 
flict ending in the extermination of their tribes. The influence 
of the great native warrior extended widely through the tributary 
nations. The confederation he planned to expel the invader, who 
grew stronger day by day, and like the serpent, though crushed 
at one point was alive at another with renovated power to injure, 
though defeated of its primary object, was the commencement of a 
series of hostilities that desolated the frontier settlements. Although 
remote for a time, the war soon approached the plantation of Quin- 
sigamond. The son of Matoonus had been executed in 1G71, for 
the murder of an Englishman, and his head placed on a pole, where 

1 Hubbard's Nar. 135. 2 ib.31. 



1G75.] INDIAN HOSTILITIES. 15 

it long remained, as the terrific memorial of justice. The father, 
a grave and sober Indian, appointed by Gookin constable of Pak- 
achoacr, in his profession of Christianity, had not forsaken the vin- 
dictive principle so deeply cherished by his people. July 10, 1675,'- 
he visited Mendon, and revenged the loss of his offspring by the 
death of five of its inhabitants. 1 

This was the signal for the commencement of a desperate contest. 
Common danger produced that efficient union of the northern colo- 
nies cemented by the necessity of self preservation. The war was 
not of long continuance. 

Energetic and rapid excursions laid waste the resources of the 
hostile tribes ; the allies, enticed to their support, foreseeing their fate, 
orew cold towards ancient friendships : their supplies were destroy- 
ed : their wigwams consumed : and Philip and his forces, hunted 
from post to post, deserted their homes and took refuge among the 
Nipmuck villages, where they received shelter and reinforcement. 
Unable to maintain open fight, they continued an unsparing preda- 
tory warfare upon the exposed hamlets and garrisons. Alarm pre- 
vailed through New England. None knew when to expect the visi- 
tation of the foe, lurking unseen in the solitude of the forest, until 
the blow fell, as sudden as the lightning, and left its effects traced 
with fire and blood. The husbandman went forth to cultivate the 
field, armed as if for battle : the musket and the sword rested by the 
pillow, whose slumbers were often broken, as the war whoop rose on 
the watches of night. The planters of Worcester, placed hard by 
the seat of the enemy, remote from friendly aid, with no dwelling 
of civilized man nearer than Marlborough on the east, Lancaster 
towards the north, and Quabaog, now Brookfield, westward, to af- 
ford assistance and support, were compelled to desert their posses- 
sions, and dispersed among the larger towns. The silence of deso- 
lation succeeded to the cheerful sounds of industry, and the village 
was abandoned to the wild beast and the fiercer foe. 

1 This event is thus noticed by Mather. ' July 14, the Nipnep, or Nipmuck Indians, 
began their mischief at a town called Mendam ( had we amended our ways as we should 
have done, this misery might have been prevented ) where they committed barbarous 
murders. This day deserves to have a Remark set upon it, considering that blood was 
never shed in Massachusetts colony in a way of hostility before this day. Moreover, 
the Providence of God herein is the more awful and tremendous, in that this very day 
the church in Dorchester was before the Lord humbling themselves by fasting and pray- 
er on account of the dmj of trouble now begun among us. 

The news of this bloodshed came to us at Boston, the next day, in Lecture time, in 
the midst of the sermon : the Scripture then improved being that, Isai. 42: 24. Who 
gave Jacob to the spoil, and Israel to the robbers? did not the Lord? He against whom 
we have sinned.' Mather's Hist. 5. 



16 NIPMUCK INDIANS. [1675. 



CHAPTER II. 

King Philip's war, 1675, 1G7G. The Nipmuck country. Indian Settlements. Visit of 
(iookin and Elliot. Attack on Quabaog. Ephraim Curtis. Phinehas Upham. 
Henchman's expedition. Quinsigamond burnt. Henchman's second expedition. 
Sagamore John surrenders. Matoonus shot. Executions in Boston. Destruction 
of the Indians. 

The natives of Quinsigamond were of the Nipmuck or Nipnet 
Indians. The territorial jurisdiction of this tribe is not accurately 
defined by the early historians. Gookin, high authority on such sub- 
jects, includes within ' the Nipmuck country,' as it was called, ten 
villages of Christian converts : Hassanamisset in Grafton; Manchoag 
now Oxford ; Chabanakongkamon now Dudley ; Maanesit, Quan- 
tisset and Wabquisset in Woodstock ; Packachaog in Worcester 
and Ward ; Waentug now Uxbridge ; Weshakitn now Sterling ; and 
Quabaog in Brookfield. 1 From the position of these places, the do- 
main of the nation must have extended over all the south, and part of 
the north, of the County of Worcester, and included a portion of 
Connecticut. On the south were the fierce Pequots ; the Massachu- 
setts, inhabiting from the bay of that name to the interior, were on 
the east ; north, were the Pawtuckets, dwelling along the Merri- 
mack and its tributary waters. The western boundary is uncertain. 
It is possible that it was as remote as the Connecticut River and the 
possessions of the warlike Maquas or Mohawks. Elliot, in 1651, 
speaks of Nipmuck, as ' a great country lying between Conncrtacot 
and the Massachusetts, called Nipnet, where there be many Indi- 
ans dispersed.' 2 The Nipmucks enjoyed a wide region, abounding 
with lakes and rivers for fishing, forests for the hunter, and soil fa- 
vorable for their rude tillage. Their character was more gentle and 
peaceful than generally belongs to savage life. Surrounded by pow- 
erful and ferocious tribes, they had lost national independence. The 
chiefs and sagamores of the scattered hamlets were subordinate and 
tributary to their strong neighbors. When the planters first arrived, 
Wattasacompanum, was nominally ruler. But his authority was 
controlled, and his efforts to preserve the friendly relations which had 
always subsisted between his people and the English, were rendered 
ineffectual, by the superior influence and bolder spirit of the Sa- 
chems, who held his subjects by paramount allegiance to their wild 

> 1 Mass. Hist. Col. i. 189. 2 3 m as ,. Hist. Col. iv. 170. 



1674.] INDIAN SETTLEMENTS. 17 

governments, and they were drawn, reluctantly and unwillingly into 
hostilities. 

The principal settlement of the Indians in Worcester, was on the 
hill rising in the south part of the town, and extending into Ward, 
called by them Pakachoag, now known as Bogachoag. It is thus de- 
scribed by Gookin, in his ' Historical Collections of the Indians in 
New England,' l written in Dec. 1674. ' This village lyeth about 
three miles south from the new road way that leadeth from Boston to 
Connecticut; about eighteen miles, west southerly, from Marlbo- 
rough ; and from Boston about forty four miles. It consists of about 
twenty families, and hath about one hundred souls therein. This 
town is seated upon a fertile hill, and is denominated from a delicate 
spring of water that is there.' 

The western hills, bearing originally the appellation of Tataesset, 
corrupted, in common use, into Tatnuck, were occupied by smaller 
hamlets. 

Wigwam Hill, on the eastern shore of Quinsigamond, was prob- 
ably a favorite place of residence for the people who ranged along 
its waters for fish and game. The name given by the planters indi- 
cates that it was once the site of the bark tents of the aborigines. 

The remains of rude workmanship frequently discovered around 
these eminences, and the vestiges of primitive agriculture formerly 
scattered over our territory, show that the tribe once roving through 
our forests was numerous. 

The benevolent exertions of self devoted teachers in diffusing the 
light of Christianity, had been extended to these villages, and as 
early as 1672, they had been here instructed in the doctrines of reli- 
gion and the ceremonial of the church. 

On the 17th of September, 1674, John Eliot, well styled the 
apostle of the Indians, visited Pakachoag, accompanied by Gookin, 
who then held the office of superintendent, on his return from an 
excursion among the nations entrusted to his paternal guardianship. 
The description, left by the latter, affords a view of the condition 
of the population previous to the commencement of that war whose 
exterminating edge soon fell on their kindred. 

'We took leave of the christian Indians at Chabanakongkomun, 
and took our journey, 17th of the seventh month, 2 by Manchage 
to Pakachoog, which lieth from Manchage, north west, about twelve 
miles. We arrived there about noon.' 

' We repaired to the sagamore's house, called John, alias Horo- 

i 1. Mass. Hist. Col. i. 192. * 28 September, 1674. N. S. 

3 



18 GOOKIN'S AND ELIOT'S VISIT. [1674. 

wanninit, who kindly entertained us. There is another sagamore 
belonging to this place, of kindred to the former, whose name is 
Solomon, alias Wooanakochu. This man was also present, who 
courteously welcomed us. As soon as the people could be got to- 
gether, Mr. Eliot preached unto them and they attended reverently. 
Their teacher, named James Speen, being present, read and set the 
tune of a psalm that was sung affectionately. Then was the whole 
duty concluded with prayer.' 

'After some short respite, a Court was kept among them. My 
chief assistant was Wattasacompanum, ruler of the Nipmuck In- 
dians, a grave and pious man of the chief sachem's blood of the 
Nipmuck country. He resides at Hassanamesit : but, by former 
appointment calleth here, together with some others. The princi- 
pal matter done at this Court, was, first, to constitute John and 
Solomon to be rulers of this people and co-ordinate in power, cloth- 
ed with the authority of the English government, which they accep- 
ted : also to allow and approve James Speen for their minister. 
This man is of good parts ; and pious. He hath preached to this 
people almost two years, but he yet resides at Hassanamesit, about 
seven miles distant. Also they chose and the Court confirmed, a new 
constable, a grave and sober Indian, called Matoonus. Then I 
gave both the rulers, teacher, constable and people, their respective 
charges, to be diligent and faithful for God, zealous against sin, and 
careful in sanctifying the Sabbath.' 

Having sent a grave and pious Indian to be a teacher at Nash- 
away, near Lancaster, with a letter of advice and exhortation, writ- 
ten and dated at Pakachoag, and nominated one of that tribe, who 
was present as constable, with power, ' to apprehend drunkards, 
take away their strong drink, and bring the offenders before himself 
for punishment ;' an office which the candidate refused to accept 
until he could consult his friends ; the exercises were concluded 
with singing a psalm and offering prayer, and they retired to rest. 
The next morning early they passed to Marlborough and thence re- 
turned to their homes. 1 

While the flame of war spread through the whole jurisdiction of 
Massachusetts, Quinsigamond was distinguished as the central point 
in a territory depopulated by hostilities, and as a post for military 
movements. Some of the christian Indians, during this gloomy 
period, repaired to Marlborough : but most of them, enticed by the 
persuasions and awed by the lofty spirit of Philip, united themselves 

1 l.Mass. Hist. Col. i. 192. 



1675.] ATTACK ON QUABOAG. 19 

with him. As early as July, 1675, this bold and sagacious war- 
rior was at Pakachaog, and was accompanied westward by saga- 
more John, who participated in the attack on Quabaog. When 
this John surrendered himself at Boston, the year after, ' he affirm- 
ed ' says Hubbard, ' that he had never intended any mischief to the 
English at Brookfield, but that Philip, coming over night among 
them, he was forced, for fear of his own life, to join with them against 
the English.' 1 Many of our Indians went with him. 

While the natives of Pakachoag were attempting the destruction 
of Brookfield, Ephraim Curtis, who may be considered as the first 
settler of Worcester, distinguished himself as a gallant soldier in 
repelling their attacks. Having actively engaged in military ser- 
vice, he received the commission of Lieutenant. The govern- 
ment, desirous of reclaiming the Nipmucks to their fidelity, repeat- 
edly sent messengers to their chiefs. On the 24th of July, 1675, 
Curtis held a conference with four of their sachems, and received 
assurances of their peaceful intentions. 2 Induced by deceptive 
promises, Capt. Edward Hutchinson, and Capt. Thomas Wheeler, 
were sent into the interior ; the former, commissioned to negociate 
a treaty, and the latter, in command of a military force of 20 men, 
for the protection of the embassy. Commencing their march from 
Cambridge, July 2S, and passing the forsaken wigwams of the sava- 
ges, who fled before them to concentrate power for a heavy blow, 
they arrived near Brookfield, August 2. Having been amused by 
delusive appointments for meetings, they were led into a narrow de- 
file, between a steep hill and deep swamp. Two or three hundred 
Indians rose suddenly from their ambuscade, and, with the first fire, 
killed eight and wounded five men, including both the commanders. 
The survivors of the ill fated company, with difficulty, effected a re- 
treat to the town, where they fortified one of the largest houses. 

' Within two hours after our coming to the said house, or less,' 
says Wheeler, in his narrative, 3 ' the said Capt. Hutchinson and my- 
self posted away Ephraim Curtis of Sudbury, and Henry Young of 
Concord, to go to the honored council, at Boston, to give them an 

1 Hubbard's Narrative, 101. 'One eyed John accuses sagamore John to have fired 
the first gun at Quaboag, and killed Capt. Hutchinson.' Sewall's Journal. 

2 Hub. Nar. 35. 

3 See the very interesting tract, reprinted in the New Hampshire Historical Society's 
Collections, ii.5, written by Captain Thomas Wheeler, entitled 'A True narrative of the 
Lord's providences in various dispensations towards Capt. Edward Hutchinson and my- 
self, and those who went with us, into the Nipmug country, and also to Quabaog, alias 
Brookfield.' 



20 CURTIS. UPHAM. [1675. 

account of the Lord's dealing with us and our present condition. 
When they came to the further end of the town, they saw the ene- 
my rifling of houses, which the inhabitants had forsaken. The post 
fired upon them, and immediately returned to us again ; they dis- 
cerning no safety in going forward, and being desirous to inform us 
of the enemies actings, that we might the more prepare for a sudden 
assault by them.' 

This assault followed with great violence but was bravely resisted. 
During the night, the attack continued, and the Indians attempted 
to fire the house, with combustibles. ' I ' says Wheeler, ' being de- 
sirous to hasten intelligence to the honored Council of our present 
great distress, we being so remote from any succor, it being between 
60 and 70 miles from us to Boston, where the Council useth to sit, 
and fearing our ammunition would not last long to withstand 
them, if they continued so to assault us, I spake to Ephraim Cur- 
tis, to adventure forth again on that service and to attempt it on foot, 
as the way wherein there was most hope of getting away undis- 
covered : he readily assented, and, accordingly, went out; but there 
were so many Indians every where thereabouts, that he could not, 
pass, without apparent hazard of life ; so he came back again ; but, 
towards morning, the said Ephraim adventured forth the third time, 
and was fain to creep on his hands and knees for some space of 
ground, that he might not be discerned by the enemy, who waited 
to prevent our sending, if they could have hindered it. But, through 
God's mercy, he escaped their hands, and got safely to Marlborough, 
though very much spent, and ready to faint, by reason of want of 
sleep before he went from us, and his sore travel, night and day, in 
that hot season, till he got thither, from whence he went to Boston.' 

Intelligence had reached Marlborough before the arrival of Ephraim 
Curtis, and Major Simon Willard, whose memory has been unhappily 
slandered by tradition, had marched for the relief of the little band 
surrounded by more than three hundred Indians. 

On the 1st of September 1675, another of the early settlers of 
Worcester, Lt. Phinehas Upham, advanced, with a force of 100 men 
under the command of Capt. Gorham, into the Nipmuck country. 
The object of the expedition was to destroy the planting fields and 
burn the wigwams of the Indians, to deprive them of shelter and 
food during the winter. Gookin complains that they attacked only 
the villages of the praying converts, while Pakachoag, where there 
was abundance of corn was left untouched. 1 

1 Gookin's Hist. Christian Indians in American Antiquarian Society's Collections. 



1675.] HENCHMAN'S EXPEDITION. 21 

In November following, the enemy's forces captured the people 
of Hassanamesit, while employed about their harvest. Wattasa- 
companum, the chief ruler and assistant, who had held court with 
Gookin in 1674, was prevailed with to unite with Philip, and his 
example drew after him most of his subjects. When information of 
this movement reached the Council, Capt. Henchman and Capt. Sill 
were immediately despatched to range the country with two compa- 
nies. Having visited Grafton, and rescued some captives, ' they 
marched ' says Gookin in his Narrative of the sufferings of the 
christian Indians 1 'to a place called Packachoage, about 10 miles 
distant from Hassanamessit, towards the north west, where was 
plenty of good indian corn, and, in this place they hoped to meet 
some of the enemy. Coming to the place, they saw sio-ns of In- 
dians, that had been lately there, but, it seems, were withdrawn 
upon the approach of the English. Here our forces took up their 
quarters one night, there being two wigwams, which were good shel- 
ter for our soldiers, the weather being wet and stormy. The next 
morning, our forces searched about the cornfields, to find the ene- 
my, but could not discover them, though, in all probability, the ene- 
my saw them in all their motions, and concealed themselves ; for 
this is their ordinary way ; to lie hid in thick swamps and other se- 
cret places, and to move as our men do scatter themselves, in small 
parties, and lie close, observing all our men's motions. The Eng- 
lish, in their search, found above 100 bushels of Indian corn newly 
gathered, and a great quantity of corn standing. About 10 o'clock 
in the forenoon, the English Captains and their soldiers marched 
back to Hassanamessit. Being gone about two miles on their way, 
Capt. Henchman, missing as he apprehended, his letter case, where- 
in his writings and orders were, he sent back two Englishmen, and 
the Indian Thomas, on horseback, to see at the wigwam where he 
lodged, to find his papers : these messengers, accordingly, going 
back, the Indian led them the way, and ascending up a steep hill, at 
the top whereof stood the wigwam, as soon as ever he discovered it, 
being not above six rods distant, he saw two Indian enemies, stand- 
ing at the wigwam door, newly come out, and four more, sitting at 
the fire, in the house. At which sight he bestirred himself, and, 
looking back, called earnestly ( as if many men were behind, com- 
ing up the hill ) to hasten away and encompass the enemy. One of 
the enemy, thereupon, presented his gun at our Indian ; but, the gun 
missing fire, ( probably the moist rainy weather had put it out of 

1 American Antiquarian Society's Collections. 



22 QUINSIGAMOND BURNED. [1675. 

case ) whereupon, the rest of them, that were in the wigwam, came 
all out, and ran away as fast as they could, suspecting that the Eng- 
lish forces were at hand. And then, Thomas, with his two comrades, 
having thus prudently scared away the enemy, they thought it sea- 
sonable also to ride back again to their company as fast as they could. 
And, indeed, there was good reason for it ; because Thomas, the In- 
dian had only a pistol : one of the Englishmen, who was their chir- 
urgeon, a young man, had no gun : the third had a gun, but the flint 
was lost :"so thaUhey were in ill case to defend themselves, or offend 
the enemy : but, God preserved them, by the prudence and courage 
of the Indian : which deliverance, one of the Englishmen directly 
acknowledged to me, attributing their preservation, under God, to 
this fellow : so they got safe to their captain, who, in the interim, 
searching diligently, had found his letter case, and staid for these 
messengers.' 1 

The buildings, deserted by the planters of Worcester, were des- 
troyed by the Indians, Dec. 2, 1675 : an event in which Mather dis- 
covers a special admonition of the displeasure of divine Providence. 
The expedition against the Narragansets was then about to march. 
' But before they set out,' says the annalist, ' the churches were all 
upon their knees before the Lord, the God of armies, entreating his 
favor and gracious success in that undertaking. This day of Pray- 
er and Humiliation was observed December 2d : when, also, some- 
thing happened, intimating as if the Lord were still angry with our 
prayers: for, this day, all the houses in Quonsukamuck were burnt 
by the Indians.' 2 

During the winter, the hostile Indians were scattered through the 
country between Marlborough and Brookfield. A large body gath- 
ered round Wachuset. Philip having visited Canada, they remain- 
ed for the most part inactive. On his return, the tomahawk was 
again lifted, and torture and death resumed their work. On the first 
of February, 1675, 3 the Nipmucks destroyed the house of Thomas 
Eames in Framingham. Three of the men of Pakachoag were af- 
terwards executed in Boston for this burning. A curious inventory 
of the loss sustained by the sufferer was afterwards presented to the 
General Court, in which a wife and five children are included among 
the articles of furniture and items of property for reimbursement. 

The Nipmucks were engaged in the attack on Lancaster, Feb'y. 
10, 1675, 4 rendered memorable by the simple narrative of Mrs. Row- 

1 See Hubbard's Nar. 45. 2 Increase Mather's History, 19. 

3 Feb. 12, 1676, New Style. * Feb. 22, 1676, N. S. 



1676.] HENCHMAN'S EXPEDITION. 23 

landson's captivity ; and, probably, participated in the depredations 
on other towns. The troops of Prentice, Savage, Mosely, and the 
other distinguished leaders of the time, frequently traversed the ter- 
ritory along the Connecticut road, to seek or pursue the foe. Par- 
ties were sometimes stationed at Ouinsigamond, to await reenforce- 
ments or watch the operations of the enemy. 

In April, 1676, three companies of infantry under Captains Sill, 
Cutler and Holbrook, and three of cavalry, with Capts. Brattle and 
Prentice, and Capt. Henchman who was commander in chief, were 
sent out towards Hassanamessit. Having been released for a time 
from service, on the 30th of May, Henchman was again despatched 
from Boston, to meet a corps from Connecticut, to scour the forest 
on both sides Connecticut River, to distress the enemy and prevent 
their fishing in those waters. The two parties were to unite at 
Brookfield, but Henchman turned aside to attack a party at Wesh- 
akim ponds. This service successfully performed, he proceeded 
westward and met the troops of the neighboring colony at Hadley. 
The object of the campaign accomplished, the men of Massachusetts 
returned. The instructions of the Council, dated June 10, state 
that Philip, with several sachems, but with few fighting men, had 
then planted at Quabaog and Pakachoag. On arriving near the 
last named place, they found that Philip and the Narragansets were 
gone several days before. On the 30th of June, Henchman, having 
halted at Marlborough, made a report from which the following pas- 
sages are extracted. 

'By advice, I drew out a commanded party, under the conduct of 
Capt. Sill, viz. sixteen files of English, all my troop, and the Indi- 
ans, excepting one file, being all we could make provision for ; for 
what, with the falling short of the bread promised us, and a great 
deal of that we had proving mouldy, the rest of the men had but 
one biscuit a man to bring them to this place. This party we order- 
ed towards Wachuset, and so to Nashaway, and the Weshakim 
Ponds, and so to return to this place. The commanded party we 
left at Quonsiquo7non, where they intended to stay awhile for the last 
scout we sent out. Eleven prisoners we had in all ; two of the eld- 
est, by counsel, we put to death, the other nine the commissary is 
ordered to convey to Boston.' 1 

From this time the fortunes of Philip rapidly declined. The spir- 
it of disaffection spread among his allies, and the formidable con- 
federacy his genius had formed was parted. The confidence he had 

i Hubbard Nar. 86. 



24 SAGAMORE JOHN'S LETTER. [1676. 

inspired was lost, and the dread of the English power revived, as 
unsparing vengeance was visited on the hostile tribes. 

Sagamore John, alarmed at the dangerous condition of affairs, pru- 
dently sought safety by timely submission. In the early part of Ju- 
ly, he opened a negotiation for peace with the government in Bos- 
ton. 

A curious letter, composed by a christian Indian who had learned 
to write, supplicating mercy in very imperfect language, is preserved 
in one of a series of tracts, first printed in London in 1676. l John 
subscribed this paper, as a highland chieftain would have done, with 
the name of his clan. It was signed by other Nipmuck sagamores, 
and sent by a party with a white flag, July 6, 1676, from Nashaway. 

' Mr. John Leveret, my Lord, Mr. Waban, and all the chief men 
our brethren, praying to God.' 2 We beseech you all to help us; my 
wife she is but one, but there be more prisoners, which we pray 
you keep well : Mattamuck his wife, we entreat you for her ; and 
not only that man, but it is the request of two Sachems, Sam Sachem 
of Weshakim and the Pakashoag Sachem.' 

' And that further you will consider about the making peace. 
We have spoken to the people of Nashobah ( viz. Tom Dublcr and 
Peter ) that we would agree with you and make a covenant of peace 
with you. We have been destroyed by your soldiers : but still we 
remember it now, to sit still ; do you consider it again : we do ear- 
nestly entreat you that it may be so by Jesus Christ. O ! let it be 
so ! Amen. Amen.' Mattamuck, his mark N. 

Sam. Sachem, his mark J£. 

Simon Pottoquam, Scribe \. 

Uppanippaquem, his ( mark ) C. 

Pakaskoag, his mark 2£ . 3 

Soon after this letter was written, about July 13, 4 sagamore John 
ventured to visit Boston, to deliver himself to the Magistrates and make 
terms for his men. The Governor and Council, with policy equally 

1 ' A true account of the most considerable occurrences that have happened in the warre 
between the English and Indians in New England/ reprinted in Drake's Indian Chron- 
icle, 131. 

2 The letter is intended to be addressed to Gov. Leveret, Mr. Waban, and the chris- 
tian Indians who prayed to God. 

3 The name of the residence of sagamore John was spelt by different early writers thus : 
Pakachoge: Packachooge: Pakchoog: Pakachage: Pakachauge: Poppachaug: Poque- 
baug: Pakachewog: Pakashoogc : Packashoag : Pakaskoag: Pacachoog. The besS 
authority is for Pakachoag. 

* Drake's Indian Chronicle, 137. I. Mather's Hist. 43. Hub. Nar. 101. 



1676.1 JOHN. MATOONUS. 25 

wise and humane, had issued proclamations offering pardon to the In- 
dians who voluntarily came in and surrendered. John expressed sin- 
cere sorrow for taking part against the English, engaged to be true 
to their interests in future, promised to give some testimonials of fi- 
delity, received assurances of security and protection, and was per- 
mitted to depart. On the 27th of July, he returned bringing with 
him an hundred and eighty of his followers. To propitiate favor, and 
purchase peace by an acceptable offering, he had treacherously seiz- 
ed that Matoonus, who had shed the first blood in Massachusetts 
on the beginning of the war at Mendon, with Nehemiah his son, 
both probably natives of Pakachoag, and brought them down bound 
with cords, to be given up to justice. Matoonus, having been ex- 
amined was condemned to immediate death. Sagamore. John, with 
the new born zeal of the traitor, to signalize his devotion to the 
cause he adopts by extraordinary rancor against that he deserts, en- 
treated for himself and his men, the office of executioners. Matoo- 
nus was led out, and being tied to a tree on Boston common, was 
shot by his own countrymen, his head cutoff, and placed upon a pole 
opposite to that of his son, who formerly suffered on the same spot 
for a real or supposed murder committed in 1671. 

The historians of the period heap upon Matoonus, a load of abu- 
sive and uncharitable epithets. The great injury he received, the 
deepest the heart of savage or civilized man can suffer, affords, in 
their view, no apology for acts of violence, which although cruel, were 
according to the custom of war among his people. ' Sagamore 
John,' says Hubbard, ' that he might more ingratiate himself with the 
English, whose friendship he was now willing to seek after, did by a 
wile, get into his hands, one Matoonus, an old malicious villain,\vho 
was the first that did any mischief within the Massachusetts Colo- 
ny, July 14, 1675, bearing an old grudge against them as is thought, 
for justice that was done upon one of his sons, 1671, whose head 
since stands upon a pole near the gibbet where he was hanged up : 
the bringing in of this malicious caitifc was a hopeful presage that it 
would not be long before Philip himself, the grand villain, would in 
like manner receive a just reward of his wickedness and murders.' 

Increase Mather, another minister of that gospel which incul- 
cates the forgiveness of injuries, adds his testimony with equal bit- 
terness, in a sermon preached in 1677. l 

1 How often have we prayed that the Lord would remember the 
cruelty, treachery, and above all the blasphemy of these heathen ! 

1 Historical discourse on the prevalence of prayer, 6. 

4 



26 WATTASACOMPANUM. [1676. 

This prayer hath been heard in Heaven Mate-onus, who 

was the first Indian that treacherously shed innocent English blood 
in Massachusetts colony, he some years before pretended something 
of religion, being a professor in general, ( though never baptised, 
nor of the inchurched Indians,) that so he might the more covertly 
manage the hellish design of revenge, that was harbored in his devil- 
ish heart : but at last sagamore John, with some of his Indians, un- 
expectedly surprised him and delivered him to justice.' 1 

Sagamore John, with nineteen of those who surrendered with him, 
were placed under the charge of Capt. Thomas Prentice, in Cam- 
bridge. During the succeeding winter, they escaped to the woods, 
and although closely followed, eluded pursuit. Three of the com- 
pany were executed, with some of their associates, for burning the 
house of Thomas Eames. Of their fate Sewall makes this brief re- 
cord in his journal : ' Sept. 13. eight Indians shot to death on the 
(Boston) common.' Thirty were sold as slaves, under the milder 
name of putting out to service. The residue of the captives were 
confined to Deer Island, where many died by famine and exposure 
without suitable food or shelter from cold. 

The assistant Wattasacompanum, better known in the annals of 
the time by the appellation of Captain Tom, 2 was made prisoner, 
June 11, 1676, with his daughter and two young children. Hench- 
man, announcing the capture, reports that this man was said to have 
left the enemy early in spring, intending to give himself up to the 
English, but dared not come in for fear of their scouts. The min- 
utes of his trial allege, that ' Capt. Tom was not only an instigator 
to others over whom he was made a captain, but also was actually 
present and an actor in the devastation of some of our plantations.' 
Although the company of friendly Indians, who had done good ser- 
vice to the colony, petitioned for his release, he was executed June 
22. ' He was,' says Gookin, 3 ' a prudent, and, I believe, a pious 
man, and had given good demonstration of it many years. I had 
particular acquaintance with him, and cannot, in charity, think oth- 
erwise concerning him in his life, or at his death : though possibly 
he was tempted beyond his strength ; for had he done as he ought, 
he should have rather suffered death than have gone among the 
wicked enemies of God's people.' 

1 Mather states that one of the sons of Matoonus was brought in with him, which is 
confirmed by the following entry in Sewall's MS. Journal, ' July 27, 1676. Sagamore 
John brings in Matoonus and his son : shot to death the same day.' 

J Shattuck's Concord, 62. 3 Hist. Christian Indians, in Am. Ant. Soc. Col. 



167C] EXECUTIONS. REMOVAL OF INDIANS. 27 

During the summer, military executions were frequent in Boston. 
Thirty Indians were shot in one day on the common. The return 
of troops from victorious expeditions into the interior, was often fol- 
lowed by judicial slaughter, only to be defended on the ground of 
necessity. The captives were sometimes treated as traitors, and 
blood profusely shed. The heads of the sufferers, exposed near the 
spot where they fell, were ghastly memorials of the stern character 
of vindictive justice. 

An order of Council, August 30, 1675, directed that all Indians 
desirous of approving their fidelity should repair to Natick, Pun- 
kapaug, 1 Wamesit, 2 Nashobah, 3 and Hassanameset, to be confined 
within a circle drawn at the distance of a mile from the centre of 
the dwellings. The christians of Quinsigamond, about this period 
went to Gr°afton, where they were afterwards surprised by a large 
force and compelled to join the enemy, as is stated, although it is 
not probable strong compulsion was needed to induce them to take 
part with their countrymen. Some were at a fort occupied by the 
converts of Marlborough. Measures of severity were adopted , invol- 
ving innocent and guilty in common suffering, scarcely admitting 
defence. The friendly Indians were principally transported to Deer 
Island. Taken away from their cornfields without being permitted 
to gather the harvest, without the resources of hunting, with slender 
provision for their support, many died for want of food and shelter 
from the inclemency of winter. The change of residence was some- 
times effected without regard to the feelings or convenience of the 
victims. Those of Marlborough, surrounded by a company under 
Capt. Mosely, who had been commander of a privateer by sea before 
he became captain of soldiers, were taken into custody, their hands 
tied behind them, and fastened to a cart rope, they were driven away. 4 
The act was disclaimed as unauthorised, but the officer was not pun- 
ished nor the captives released. 

With the death of Philip, the animating spirit of the hostile confed- 
eracy, Aug. 12, 1676, the war ended. Its progress arrested the ear- 
liest efforts for settlement, and destroyed the little village beginning 
to rise in Quinsigamond : its termination left the soil almost without 
a relic of the aboriginal population. When the white settlers com- 
menced building here, there were between two and three hundred 
of the natives. They possessed extensive planting fields, and had 
set appletrees obtained from the English. The light of Christianity 

i Stoughton. s Lowell. 3 Easterly part of Littleton. 

* Allen's Northborough, in Wor. Mag. ii. H7. Biglow's Natick, 36. 



28 SECOND INDIAN DEED. [1677. 

had dawned upon them, and some advance had been made in civili- 
zation. By the sword, by famine, by violent removal, and by flight, 
they were nearly exterminated. When the second plantation was 
attempted, only superannuated old men, women and children, remain- 
ed of the red people : those able to bear arms had been slain, or dis- 
persed, seeking refuge in Canada among the French, or migrating 
far westward beyond the reach of the power they had too much pro- 
voked for their own safety. The whole nation perished, leaving no 
monuments of their existence on our lands, and no remains except 
little articles of ornament, rude utensils of culinary art, and rough 
weapons of stone, discovered in their former dominion. 



CHAPTER III. 

1677 to 1713. Second settlement. Indian deed, 1G77. Meeting of Planters, 1673. 
Henchman's agreement, 1684. Citadel. Survey. Mills built. Name of Worces- 
ter. Lots laid out. New Committees. Capt. Fitch's letter. Queen Anne's war. 
Town abandoned. Digory Serjent killed. Elisha Ward. Indian Hostilities. Pe- 
tition for resettlement refused, 1709. 

Peace having been reestablished, the Committee earnestly endea- 
vored to procure the settlement of the town. The little remnant of 
the Indians, who survived the perils and sufferings of war, had re- 
turned to their homes. On the 6th of Dec. 1677, 1 the right of Pan- 
nasunet, a sagamore who had not subscribed the former instrument 
of conveyance, was purchased of his heirs and relatives. The deed 2 
was executed by Anthony, or Wannashawakum, otherwise, Wan- 
noshanohannawit, and Abagail, his wife, ' daughter and only heir 
of Pannasunet :' Nannaswane, the widow ; Sasomet, and his wife 
Quassawake, sister of the deceased proprietor ; who are described as 
' all natives and inhabitants, they and their ancestors, of Quinsiga- 

1 Middlesex Registry of Deeds. Lib. 8. Page 318. 

« The subscribing witnesses to this deed were the apostolic John Eliot, Nathaniel Goo- 
kin of Cambridge son of Daniel Gookin, James Speen, Waban and Simon Betoghan. 

James Speen was of Natick, and distinguished for fidelity to the English. 

Thomas Waban was of Natick, the son of the earliest convert to Chnstianity, for a 
long time, Clerk, Justice of the Peace, and constable of the Indian town. 

Simon Betoghan was probably the scribe by whom the letter of the sagamores was 
written. 

The grantors probably lived on Wigwam Hill. 



1678 .] MEETING OF PLANTERS. 29 

mond ' and who covenanted that they had good and just title, and 
natural ri^ht and interest in the territory, and that they would war- 
rant its enjoyment. The same good faith and equity governed in 
this as in the former contract. The receipt of full sanction for 
this release of dower and inheritance, in trucking cloth and corn, is 

acknowledged. " 

Although the storm of war had passed over, the recollection of 
its destructive visitation was still fresh. No serious fears could be 
entertained of immediate disturbance of the repose of the Colony, 
by the dispersed and defeated enemy. In the interval of peace, the 
Committee, in 1G7S, directed the Planters to return before the year 
1680 and build together so as to defend themselves : but, m their 
own words, < there was no going by any of them, or hope that they 
would .o do • for divers of them being importuned to go, would not. 
The exposed and remote situation of the place, affords sufficient ex- 
plan ation of the refusal. . 

A meeting of those interested in the plantation was held in Cam- 
bridge March 3, 1678.* Gookin, Henchman, and Prentice of the 
Committee were present, with Joel Jenkins, Richard Dana Philip 
Atwood, Thomas Brown, John Paul, Thomas Groves John Fay, 
Thomas Hall, Thomas Skinner, John Bemis, Richard Tree, Mis- 
cal Flagcr, John Upham, William Taylor, Benjamin Webb, and Si- 
mon Meylin, whose names are entered on the margin of the original 
record. The following paper expresses the result of their dehbera- 
tions. 

1 < It is acrreed by all the persons named in the margent, that, God 
willincr they intend and purpose, if God spare life and peace con- 
tinue to endeavor, either in their persons, or by their relations, or by 
their purses, to settle the said plantation sometime the next summer, 
come twelve month, which shall be in the year of our Lord 1G80. 

o ' They do engage to build in a way of a town, according to a 
model proposed by Major Gookin and Major Henchman, or some 
model equivalent thereunto, for the attaining these six ends ; 1st, se- 
curity from the enemies in case (of alarm) : 2d, for the better convc- 
nity of attending God's worship : 3d, for the better education of their 
children in society : 4th, for the better accommodation of trades peo- 
ple : 5th, for better helps to civility : 6th, for more convenient help 
in case of sickness, fire or other casualty. 

3. ' That the most convenient place is to be chosen and pitched 

i March 14, 1679, N. S. 



30 HENCHMAN'S AGREEMENT. [1684. 

upon to build the town, sometime this next summer, by the commit- 
tee, or the major part of such of the people as go up to view the 
place, which is intended this next May, if God please. 

4. ' That after the place is chosen and pitched upon, others that 
are not present, do engage to submit and settle there.' 

The resolutions of settlement unanimously adopted, like other 
good intentions, seem to have ended with the formation, as no evi- 
dence remains of any practical attempt to carry them into execution. 

The General Court, at their October session, 1682, gave notice to 
the Committee, that the grant would be considered forfeit and be 
lost, unless measures were taken to form a plantation. 

The necessity of immediate exertion to preserve the rights of those 
who had procured the title of the soil, incurred much expense, and 
performed no inconsiderable labor, in efforts for settlement, having 
been thus officially presented to the Committee, after long negocia- 
tion, they accepted proposals offered by Capt. Henchman and his 
associates for accomplishing their purpose. An agreement was en- 
tered into, April 24, 16S4, 1 evidenced by a formal instrument of that 
date. The inducements to this arrangement are stated to be ; ' that 
the plantation might be secured ; the first planters prevailed with 
to resettle ; others encouraged to plant ; public occasions provided 
for ; recompense made to those who have labored therein ; those re- 
warded that shall forward the place; manufactures promoted; the 
country advantaged ; travellers accommodated : and not any damni- 
fied that are concerned.' The quantity of meadow being estimated 
at 480 acres, it was proposed to divide the whole township into that 
number of lots : 200 for the planters : 80 for public uses or specific 
appropriations : and the remaining 200 to be laid out on the north- 
ern extremity, forming a division, afterwards known as North Wor- 
cester, and subsequently rendered permanent by the incorporation 
of Holden. 

Among other arrangements for mutual safety and provisions for 
social happiness, it was stipulated, that ' land for a citadel should be 
laid out, on the Fort River, about half a mile square, for house lots, 
for those who should, at their first settling, build and dwell thereon, 
and make it their certain place of abode for their families : to the 
end the inhabitants may settle in a way of defence, as enjoined by 
law, 2 and formerly ordered by the committee for divers reasons, and 

1 Proprietor's Records, 13. 
a In 1635, the General Court ordered, that ' no new building shall be built more than 
half a mile from the meeting house, in any new plantation.' 



168 4.-j CITADEL. LOTS. SURVEY. 31 

each one so doing, to have a house lot there, at least six rods square.' 
This citadel or central station, was on the stream flowing by the 
present town, then called Fort River, from the ancient fortress winch 
had been thrown up on its bank ; soon after named Mill Brook from 
the works moved by its waters; and sometimes denominated Bime- 
leck. From references at a subsequent period, it may be inferred, 
its northern line was parallel with the town way north of the Court 
House, and that it included the greater part of the village of Wor- 

The contractors were required < to build two fire rooms in the cita- 
del to shelter such as shall come to settle, and travellers until there 
be an ordinary: for accommodation of whom/ it » said, was one 
reason of granting the plantation.' 

Tlere is traditional evidence that a fortified house was erected 
a little east from Main street ;i it was surrounded with a palisade. 
The inhabitants resorted to its defence by night, and maintained a 
guard to secure their slumbers. 

It was enjoined, < that care be taken to provide a minister with all 
convenient speed ; and a schoolmaster in due season ; and in the in- 
terim, that the Lord's day be sanctified by the inhabitants meeting 
toaether theron, to worship God as they shall be (able). 

The territory without the citadel was divided into lots of ten and 
twenty five acres : ample reservations were made for public uses and 
common benefit ; for the support of teachers of religion and the in- 
struction of youth, as well as for the encouragement of useful arts 
and trades. Lands were appropriated for building saw, corn and 
fulling mills. Four lots were assigned to the Commonwealth as our 
ancestors loved to style the colony, in lieu of those reserved for the 
country by the original grant. The zealous exertions of Gookin to 
promote the prosperity of the infant town were ***?*P^* 
donation of eight lots. Each of the Committee were to be entitled, in 
their official capacity, to four lots/ for their care and P™«- 

The principles for conducting settlement being fixed, the work ot 
improvement was soon commenced. A general survey was made by 
Samuel Andrews of Watertown, May 16, 1683; the plan, on which 
the boundaries were delineated, was presented on the 7th of May 
1684, and allowed and confirmed. The township was estimated to 
contain 43,020 acres, an allowance of two in the hundred being 
made for the inaccuracy of measuring the Wilderness. 

» This garrison was a few rods east of the head of the street now (1836) called Co- 
lumbian avenue, on land over which the street passes. 
a Prop. Records, 2. 



32 SETTLEMENTS. [1684. 

A vacancy in the committee, occasioned by the death of Lt. Rich- 
ard Beers of Watertown, killed in the defeat of the English near 
IWthheld in Sept. 1675, was supplied, on the application of the 
survivors, by the appointment of Capt. John Winer of Boston 

Many persons made contracts with Capt. Henchman, and some 
became residents. Corn and saw mills were erected by Capt. Win. 
a short distance above the bridge at the north end of Main street' 
where the remains of the dam are still visible in the little island 
tto dmdes the stream. His house and barn were placed in their 

T U l ] l m fT and deSirG ° f G ° 0kin ' Prentlce and Henchman, 
on the 10th of Sept. 1684, the Great and General Court granted 

wlIZ? " thGir Plantat, ° n * *-si g amond ^called 

en!?' 1 " 1 7ZT W6re madG hl May ' 1685 - A lot was laid out for 

tlie ot'o°f 80 ""^ * thG "" SldG ° f PakaCh °^ Hil1 ' and ™ 
her lot of 80 acres on Raccoon Plain. There were present at this 

son, David F.ke, the surveyor, Digory Serjent, Will, a mulatto 
Christopher Reed, and Benjamin Eaton. 

A tract of 80 acres was assigned to Capt. John Win., around his 

George Danson, who was a baker, of Boston, obtained a grant of 

> On land now [1836] of Stephen Salisbury, Es q . north of Linco.n square. 

n wl s h ;Zb, n ; x **t:*2:2::r z Wor r er cannot °™ be «— * 

ers in England. P CG ° f resldence •' »°»e of the committee or plant- 

s2: csr; l^raw 538 ' to h r been ^ *- *• 

the Pla ee to which it wis JSSJ^'^S^^-^ C — of 

In England, one P l ace only bears this name". S^jt"? 7™ ' "T^ 
sh,re, s.tuated on the banks of the Severn conLZT ,Sa ^' the ca P»al of a 
20,000, supported a flourishing trade in glomes and e 1 * ^^ °' ab ° Ul 

held three market days the week and re ZTJ ma ™ f ^™ «f fine china ware, 

ed ia history as the s/ene of a la^i ^ 1 1 e ^ iTlT T^ » " "* 
Pretender, afterwards Charles II ttJk ' betweeu Cromwell and the 

la the United States h e " d bi f " a , t,me *" h ° PeS ° f the Stua «- 

been given to the ^£$£r *" ^ **&* «» ««■ It had 



1. Worcester, post town, Otsego county New YnrV • ,„ 

2 , post town ivr T ' P°P- in 1830 > 2093. 

, pobi town, Montgomery co. Penns- ' 

town, Washington co. Vermc 

township, Wayne county, Ohio, 



2. 

-J county, chief town, Snow Hill, Maryland, 



. post town, Montgomery co. Pennsylvania, « 

town, Washington co. Verm< 

rciship, Wayne county, Ohio, 

town, Wayne county, Ohio,' 



town, Washington co. Vermont, 
*' . t0 ^hip, Wayne county, Ohio, « „ jIT 

"• " town W- ._ _. . IZOO. 



1684.] SETTLEMENTS. NEW COMMITTEE. 33 

200 acres on the same side of the stream, north of the citadel, and 
extending to North Pond. 

Thomas Hall occupied the meadow below the mills. 
At this distance of time, without the aid of full records, ill suppli- 
ed by the scattered fragments of history and tradition which have 
descended, it is not possible to ascertain the names or number of 
the actual settlers of the new town which rose from the ashes of 
the former plantation. 

In addition to those already mentioned, the following were proba- 
bly among the in' ' it mts : 

Thomas Atherton, George Rosbury, James Daniel, 

Peter G >ul I . Isaac George, Matthew Tomlin, 

Isaac Bull. Thomas Brown, Daniel Turell, 

William • ks, Jacob Leonard, Isaac Tomlin, 

Eno s Salter, John Cowell, James Dutton. 

The Committee suffered the loss of one of its most energetic mem- 
bers by the death of Cnpt. Henchman, 16*6, who had personally 
aided and superintended the allotment of lands. 

The President and Council, administering the affairs of the Prov- 
ince in the stormy period of the Revolution following the abrogation 
of the charter, on the 10th of June, 1686, upon the application of 
the proprietors of Worcester, reappointed Gen.Gookin and Capt. Pren- 
tice of the old Committee, and added Mr. William Bond of Water- 
town, Capt. Joseph Lynde and Deacon John Haynes of Sudbury, as 
new members, with general powers to order and regulate all matters 
concerning the settlement. 1 

For a time we lose sight of the town and its inhabitants. From 
1686 to 1713, no record is preserved on the proprietary book of any 
transactions. Neither history nor tradition informs us of the labors, 
dangers and sufferings of the earlier planters, or discloses particulars 
to measure the advance of population under the salutary regulation 
and prudential guardianship of able and discreet committees, or the 
difficulties interposed by public embarassments. Gen. Gookin, the 
early and faithful friend of the plantation, was called to the rewards 
of a long life, characterized by fervent piety, enlightened benevo- 
lence, incorruptible integrity, and the practice of every manly virtue, 
in March, 1687. The office he held in relation to the town was fil- 
led by the appointment of Capt. Adam Winthrop, who had become 
proprietor of extensive tracts. 

Other vacancies having occurred, Dec. 23, 1691, Capt. Penn 

1 Proprietors' Records, 23. 



34 CAPT. FITCH'S LETTER. [1G96. 

Townsend, Capt. Ephraim Hunt, and Mr. John Haynes, were added 
to Capt. Prentice, Capt. Winthrop and Capt. Wing, for the ordering 
of affairs: 1 a circumstance rendering it certain that the number of 
settlers had not so increased as to prevent the necessity of relying 
on others for the direction of their municipal concerns. 

On the 23d of August, 1696, a house in Oxford was assaulted by 
the Albany or Western Indians, and Goodman Levenz and three 
children of its inmates killed. Mr. Johnson, who was returning to 
the place, was shot in the road. On the intelligence of these outra- 
ges and of the appearance of hostile parties near Woodstock, Major 
James Fitch marched to that town. On the 27th a party was sent 
out of thirty eight Norwich, Moheagan and Nipmuck Indians, and 
twelve soldiers, to range the woods towards Lancaster, under Capt. 
Daniel Fitch. On their march they passed through Worcester, and 
discovered traces of the enemy in its vicinity. The following letter 
of their commander gives an account of their expedition. 

' To the Rt. Honorable William Stoughton, Esq. Lieut. Governor 
and Commander in chief, &c. 

' Whereas we were informed of several persons killed at Oxford 
on Tuesday night last past, (23d) and not knowing what danger 
might be near to Woodstock and several other frontiers towards the 
western parts of the Massachusetts Province : several persons ap- 
pearing volunteers, both English and Indians, to the number of about 
50, (concerning which this bearer, Mr. James Corbin, may more 
fully inform your Honor,) all which were willing to follow the In- 
dian enemy, hoping to find those that had done the late mischief; in 
prosecution whereof we have ranged the woods to the westward of 
Oxford, and so to Worcester, and then to Lancaster, and are freely 
willing to spend some considerable time in endeavoring to find any 
of the enemy that may be upon Merrimack or Penicook Rivers, or 
any where in the western woods : to which end we humbly request 
your Honor would be pleased to encourage said design, by granting 
us some supply of provisions and ammunition, and also by strength- 
ening us as to anything wherein we may be short in any respect, 
that so we may be under no disadvantage nor discouragement. 

' They may further inform your Honor, that on the sabbath day 
(28), coming at a place called Half Way River, betwixt Oxford and 
Worcester, we came upon the fresh tracks of several Indians which 
were gone towards Worcester, which we apprehend were the Indians 

1 Province Records, vi. 210. 



1696.] DIGORY SERJENT. 35 

that did the late damage at Oxford ; and being very desirous to do 
some service that may be to the benefit of his Majesty's subjects, we 
humbly crave your Honor's favorable assistance. Herein I remain 
your Honor's most humble servant, according to my ability. 
Lancaster, 31 August, 1696. Daniel Fitch.' 

On the commencement of the eighteenth century the peace of the 
country was again disturbed by renewed outrages of the savages, 
always capricious in friendship, treacherous in alliance, and unre- 
lenting in enmity. Although Worcester suffered less in Queen An- 
ne's war, which began in 1702, by loss of life than many towns, it 
shared in the alarm and participated in the miseries of the final 
struggles of the red men to reclaim their possessions and avenge the 
wrongs inflicted by our ancestors. 

When the same danger which had once before pressed on the 
planters, became extreme, and the Indians again kindled the slum- 
bering flame of murderous hostility, the second attempt to build a 
town here was abandoned. The inhabitants fled ; the place of their 
residence was delivered up to decay ; the traces of cultivation were 
effaced ; and the silence of ruin was again over the forsaken farms 
and deserted homes. 

Among those who attempted the settlement of Worcester af- 
ter the first unsuccessful enterprise, was Digory Serjent, who had 
built his house on Sagatabscot Hill, south eastward of the present 
town. He was a native of Sudbury, and had been a carpenter by 
occupation before his removal. A will made by him in 1679 is pre- 
served on the Middlesex Records. As the list of goods and effects, 
strangely mingled together, presents example of the humble person- 
al possessions of former times, and the style affords specimen of 
quaint peculiarity it will not be uninteresting. 

'March, the 17th day, 1696. The last Will and Testament of 
Digory Serjent. 

' I Digory Serjent, being in my health and strength, and in my 
perfect memory, blessed be the Lord for it ; these few lines may sat- 
isfy whom it may concern, that I, Digory Serjent, do freely give unto 
my Daughter Martha Serjent, my house and land with all the rights 
and privileges thereunto belonging : this house and four score acre 
lot of land lieth within the township of Worcester : I likewise do give 
unto her all my goods ; one flock bed and boulster, with one rugg, 
and two blankets and two coverlets ; six froes ; one broad ax and 
one falling ax and one handsaw ; one frying pan ; one shave ; one 



36 DIGORY SERJENT. [1702. 

drawing knife ; one trunk and a sermon book that is at Mrs. Mary 
Mason's, widow, at Boston ; with one pewter pint pot ; one washing 
tub; one cow and calf; one mare; three iron wedges; two beetle 
rings : And if in case the Lord should see good to take away the 
sa^d Digory Serjent by death, then I, the said Digory Serjent, do 
leave these things above written unto George Parmeter of Sudbury, 
to be disposed of as he shall see good, to bring up the said Digory 
Serjent's child : and if in case that this child should die likewise, 
then I do freely give my house and land with all the goods above 
mentioned unto George Parmeter forever, and to his heirs, to look 
after these things and to dispose of them as he shall see cause. In 
witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and seal, the day and 
year above named. There is one gun too. Digory Serjent. 

Witnessed by John Keyes, John Wetherby.' 

Having afterwards been married to the sister of Parmeter, (as I 
think,) his family became more numerous, and afforded more vic- 
tims to be involved in the miseries of death and captivity. 

Long after the other planters had fled from the perils of the con- 
flict that raged around them, Serjent remained with his children, the 
solitary occupants of the town, resisting all importunity to seek safe- 
ty by desertion, and resolving with fearless intrepidity to defend from 
the savage the fields his industry had redeemed from the waste. 

During the summer of 1702, 1 his residence was unmolested. As 
winter approached, the committee, alarmed by his situation on the 
frontier of danger, sent messengers to advise his removal to a place 
of security. As their admonitions were disregarded, they at length 
dispatched an armed force of twelve men under Capt. Howe, to com- 
pel compliance with the order. At the close of day the party arriv- 
ed at a garrison near the mills. Here they halted for the night, 
which grew dark with storm and snow, and kindling their fires, laid 
down to rest, while one of the band watched the slumbers of his 
comrades. In the morning they went onward, and reached the 
house of Serjent on Sagatabscot, at the distance of nearly two miles 
from the post where they had halted. They found the door broken 
down, the owner stretched in blood on the floor, and the duelling 
desolate. The prints of many mockasins leading westward, still vis- 
able through the snow, indicated that they had been anticipated by 

•This is the date given in the brief account in 1 Mass. Hist. Col. i. 112, copied by 
Whitney and subsequent writers. It is probable the death of Serjent was in 1703 or 
1704, at the period when Northampton, Lancaster and other towns were attacked by the 
French and Indians. 



1702.] DIGORY SERJENT. 37 

a short time only in the object of their mission. Having pursued 
the trail of the murderers a little way, they returned and buried Ser- 
jent at the foot of an oak, long since decayed. On retracing their 
course to the spot of their repose, they found the prints of feet going 
from the fort towards Wachuset. After the war was ended, the In- 
dians, when they revisited the settlers, declared that six of them had 
entered the building for shelter from the tempest, when the near ad- 
vance of the English was discovered, too late to permit escape from 
a force so considerable, and they secreted themselves in the cellar. 
The soldiers had spread their blankets and laid down over the trap 
door, thus securing their foes, until the morning march gave oppor- 
tunity for flight. 

It was soon found that the children of Serjent were living in Can- 
ada. On the release of the eldest, she related the particulars of the 
fearful catastrophe they had witnessed. When the Indians, headed 
by sagamore John, as is said, surrounded the house, Serjent seized 
his gun to defend his life and was fired on. As he retreated to the 
stair way, a ball took effect and he fell. The savages rushed in, 
with their tomahawks completed the work of death, and tore off the 
scalp from his head, as the trophy of victory. They seized the 
mother and her children, John, Daniel, Thomas, Martha and Mary, 
and having discovered the neighborhood of the white men, commen- 
ced a rapid retreat westward. The wife of Serjent, fainting with 
grief and fear, and in feeble circumstances, faltered and impeded 
their progress. The apprehension of pursuit induced the Indian to 
forego the terrible pleasure of torturing his victim. As they ascen- 
ded the hills of Tataesset, a chief stept out from the file, and looking 
around among the leafless forests as if for game, excited no alarm in 
the exhausted and sinking captive, and awoke no cry of horror to 
betray their course. When she had passed by, one merciful blow 
from the strong arm of the sachem removed the obstruction of their 
flight. The children, they carried away, reached the northern fron- 
tier in safety, and were a long time in Canada. Daniel and Mary, 
preferring the wild freedom of their captors to the restraints of civ- 
ilized life, adopted the habits and manners of the Indians. They 
never again resided with their relatives, although they once made 
them a visit, when Miss Williams, taken at Deerfield, was restored. 
In 1715, Thomas was at Boston. John had been liberated in 1721. 
Martha was probably redeemed earlier than her brothers. She 
married Daniel Shattuck, and returned to dwell on the spot so fatal 
to her family, as may be inferred from the following order, to the 



3d INDIAN HOSTILITIES. [1709. 

commissioners appointed in 1721, to make partition of the inherited 
lands in Worcester. 

' If D. Shattuck's hovel, made of the stuff of the said deceased's 
old house, needs consideration, his brother John must allow for it, 
if you in your good discretion, think good : and also for any labor 
which the said Daniel has done on the mother lot : it proves equal 
that he should have for this year liberty to enjoy the fruits of his own 
labor : so do what is right and equal, as you must be sworn.' 

' Francis Foxcraft, J. Pro. for Middlesex.' 

The approach of Capt. Howe's party, whose night's rest was at the 
expense of lives and suffering, probably prevented the conflagration 
of the house and the destruction of property. A full inventory of 
the goods and effects collected, was returned into the Probate Oflice 
by George Parmeter, who seems to have taken administration by vir- 
tue of the will, although its provisions were inoperative. 1 

Although the power of the savage was crushed, predatory bands 
visited the town. In August, 1709, Elisha Ward, sent on an express 
from Marlborough to Hadley, having stopped to examine his deserted 
farm, was killed. After the permanent settlement in 1713, no lives 
were lost, but the quiet of the inhabitants was frequently disturbed. 
On one occasion, three Indians were discovered lurking near the 
stream below the upper canal lock. The alarm was given and the 
townsmen extended themselves along the meadow, then a dark and 
tangled swamp, and explored its thickets. One of them discharged 
his musket at an object he supposed to be an Indian, but as the 
company who gathered to the spot discerned no trace of a foe, it 
was concluded that he had been deceived. It was afterwards ascer- 
tained that the shot took effect, and that the knee of one of the war- 
riors was broken by the ball. Being on the margin of the brook he 
dropped down the bank, and crawled into an opening fortunately 
large enough to conceal his person. When the pursuit was over, 
his companions returned and carried him into the heart of a deep 
morass west of Pakachoag Hill, where they built a wigwam to shel- 
ter him until his wound healed, and renovated strength enabled 
them to depart forever from the land of their ancestral heritage. 

Tradition tells that William Taylor, a bold and fearless man, dis- 
covering an Indian approaching his house, shot him to death. The 

1 Relation of Thomas Rice. Rev. Dr. Bancroft's Sermon, 11. Davis's Address, 15. 
Whitney Hist. 26. 1 Mass. Hist. Col. i. 115. Middlesex Probate Records. Proprie- 
tors' Records. 



1709.] PLANTERS' PETITION. 39 

son watched an opportunity of revenge. He was observed by Tay- 
lor, stretched behind a log on the margin of the field he cultivated, 
and the same gun which had been fatal to the father sent a bullet to 
the heart of the descendant. 

The last of the race who here died by the hand of the white man, 
is said to have fallen on the plain, north of the first mill place. 

Fortunately, none of the posterity of the Indian here remain to 
contrast their degradation, with the lofty and in some points noble 
character of the ancient tribes. 

The following Petition was presented to the Legislature in 1709, 
by those interested in the township, for aid in the resettlement. 

' To his Excellency Joseph Dudley, Esq. Capt. General and Gov- 
ernor in chief in and over her Majesty's province of the Massachu- 
setts Bay in New England, and to the Honorable the Council and 
Representatives in General Court assembled : 

' May it please your Excellency and Honors. We, the subscribers, 
presuming that the resettlement of Worcester would be beneficial to 
the Province, have taken the boldness to trouble your Excellency 
and Honors with a few lines, humbly informing that if we may 
have a firm foundation of a settlement laid and a fort built, and 
needful protection, we are willing to inhabit and settle the place. 
We humbly intreat your Excellency and Honor's approbation and 
direction in the matter; that so we may take such proper methods 
as are needful, and as you shall direct us unto : And that your Excel- 
lency and Honors would promote this business speedily, before the 
season be past, and so the settlement be deferred till another year. 
Thus, in short, we take the boldness to subscribe, your Excellency's 
and Honor's most humble servants. 

Joseph Sawyer, Thomas Barrett, Richard Wiles, 

William Ward, James Caly, Benjamin Headley, 

John Perry, John Wheeler, James Atherton, 

Benjamin Bellows, Thomas Smith, John Sawyer, 

Jonathan Whitcomb, Ebenezer Perry, Abiel Bush.' 

Elias Sawyer, 

The Council ordered, that Elisha Hutchinson, Samuel Sewall, and 
Nathaniel- Paine, Esquires, should be a Committee to consider the 
expediency of granting the request, and the course to be adopted. 
The House refused to concur, as the disturbed condition of the 
times rendered the enterprise too dangerous to be sanctioned by leg- 
islative approbation. l 

1 Province Files, 1709. Province Records, ix. 5. 



40 THIRD SETTLEMENT. [1713. 



CHAPTER IV. 

1713 to 1722. Third settlement to incorporation. Petition, 1713. New Committee. 
Report. 171 1. First Settlers. James Rice. Gershom Rice. Nathaniel Moore. 
Garrisons. Mills. Roads. View of the- town. 1713. Grants to proprietors. 
Scotch and Irish emigrants. Town incorporated, 1722. 

More favorable prospects having opener) in 1713, the proprietors, 
undiscouraged by former failure, attempted to rebuild the town. On 
the 13th of Oct. Col. Adam Winthrop, Gershom Rice and Jonas 
Rice of Marlborough, addressed the General Court in behalf of them- 
selves and others interested ; J They represented their desire ' to 
endeavor and enter upon a new settlement of the place from which 
they had been driven by the war,' and prayed ' for the countenance 
and encouragement of the Court in their undertaking: for such di- 
rections and regulations as should be thought fit to make them de- 
fensible in case of a new rupture with the Indians : and for a proper 
Committee to direct in ordering the prudentials of the plantation till 
they come to a full settlement.' 

The prayer of this petition was granted, and Hon. William Tay- 
lor, Col. Adam Winthrop, Hon. William Dudley, Lt. Col. John Bal- 
lantine and.Capt. Thomas Howe were appointed a Committee. 

. On the 14th of June. 1714, a detailed report was presented by this 
Committee of their proceedings in adjusting the claims of the for- 
mer settlers and promoting the prosperity of the future plantation. 
After giving notice to all interested, and making a journey to Wor- 
cester, they had allowed thirty one rights of ancient inhabitants, and 
admited twenty eight persons more to take lands on condition of 
paying twelve pence per acre for their planting or house lots only, 
being the amount collected of the original planters, and of building 
and dwelling on each right whether acquired by purchase, grant or 
representation. It was recommended that the provision made for sup- 
port of the ministry and schools be accepted instead of the reserva- 
tion to the Commonwealth in 1668. 

The Committee asked, as they had spent much time in receiving 
claims for grants of lands, made journeys to effect adjustment of con- 
troversies, advanced sums of money, and expected to have the care 
and trouble of the affairs of the town for many years, that a lot of 
forty acres should be assigned to each, with just proportions in future 
divisions, as compensation for services. 

1 Prop. Records. 



1713.] FIRST SETTLERS. 41 

This report was accepted, and received the approval of Gov. 
Dudley, June 14, 1714. 

Jonas Rice, who had been a planter during the second settle- 
ment, returned October 21, 1713. From this day is dated the per- 
manent settlement of the town. He built on Sagatabscot hill, and his 
farm included some of the lands once cultivated by Serjent. The se- 
lection of residence was probably made with reference to fertility of 
soil, proximity to extensive meadows, and it may be, from prior oc- 
cupation by himself. 2 He remained with his family alone in the 
forest, the solitary inhabitant of Worcester, until the spring of 1715. 

The union of cool intrepidity and resolute firmness with good 
sense and integrity in the character of Mr. Rice, commanded the 
respect and secured the confidence of his fellow citizens when the 
town he had founded rose from its ashes in renovated beauty to com- 
mence that steady progress of prosperity which has brightened its ad- 
vance, He was often elected to municipal offices, was frequently 
representative to the General Court, and was one of the Justices of 
the Court of Common Pleas at the time of his decease, Sept. 22 } 
1753, at the age of 84 years. 

The first male child born in Worcester, Nov. 7, 1714, was Adon- 
ijah, son of Jonas Rice. On arriving to manhood, year after year, 
his name is entered on the rolls of the provincial troops during the 
French wars : after each summer campaign was finished, he returned 
to his home, and the quiet of domestic and agricultural life. He re- 
moved to Shoreham, Vt. where he died, Feb. 1802, aged 8S. 

The second settler appears from the records to have been Gershom 
Rice, who came in 1715, to join his brother Jonas, the hardy pion- 
eer of population, maintaining his post for nearly two years unsup- 
ported by assistance and uncheered by associates. 2 

The third settler was Nathaniel Moore, of Sudbury, a man ofex- 

1 Jonas Rice's house stood near that of his descendant, Mr. Sewall Rice, on the town 
way between the Sutton and Grafton roads. 

2 These families of the Rices removed from Marlborough. Their distant ancestor Rich- 
ard, was one of the early proprietors of Concord in 1635. Edmund, admitted to tha 
freeman's oath in 1640, was, in thai year, representative from Sudbury and one of the 
petitioners for the grant of Marlborough. 

These families were remarkable for longevity. The father of Gershom died at the age* 
of 70 : his mother 84 : They had '4 children : ihree died in infancy : the others lived to 
advanced age : 1, Peter 97 : 2, Thomas 94 : 3, Mary SO : 4. vathanie! 70 : 5. Fphrninj 
71 : 6, James 72 : 7, Sarah 80:8, Frances 96: 9, Jonas 84: 10, Grace, 94 : 11, Gershom. 
died Dec. 29, 1769. a?ed 101 : his wife died at the age of 80: they lived together in 
marriage nearly 65 years and left seven children, some of whom, on the decease of thei r 
father, were upwards of 70. Boston Gazette, 1769. 

6 



42 GARRISONS. [1718. 

emplary character, who was deacon of the first church from its foun- 
dation. He died Nov. 25, 17G1, aged 84 years. * 

Capt. Thomas Howe and Lt. David Haynes were appointed by the 
Committee to give certificates for such of the inhabitants as had built 
upon their lots and performed the conditions of their grants. On the 
23d of April, 1718, they returned a list which has unfortunately 
perished in the lapse of time. The record of surveys, made in the 
same year, partially supplies the deficiency, and enables us to deter- 
mine the progress of settlement. Well authenticated traditions, pre- 
served in the memory of descendants of early planters, connected 
with, and confirmed by this source of information, afford materials 
for delineating a picture of the condition of Worcester, which though 
imperfect, may be considered as presenting a faithful outline of the 
prominent objects. 

The first labor of the inhabitants had been to erect a garrison 
house, on the west side of the Leicester road, not far distant from 
the old south church. It was reared by the united labors of all, 
and those residing near, gathered by night to its walls, during the 
first year. 

Another of these fortresses of logs was near the head of the street 
called Columbian avenue, [1836] constructed by Deac. Daniel Hey- 
wood. A patriarchal pear tree, planted by him, still stands, at the 
end of a century, on ground he once owned, a venerable example of 
vegetable longevity. 

The third of the wooden castles, was a large building on the Con- 
necticut road, north of Lincoln square, affording shelter to the trav- 
eller and defending the mills erected on the stream. 

Eastward from the intersection of the Lancaster and Boston roads, 
near the modern Adams square, in the north part of the town, was a 
structure which exhibited marks of fortification until an advanced 
old age. 

1 His son, Nathaniel Moore, came into the town at the age of three months. He lived 
respected, and died July 24, 1311, aged % : The following notice of his character is 
from the Massachusetts Sp)\ 

' He was a man of exemplary piety and benevolence. He resided in Worcester 
more than 95 years, being a member of the third family that began the settlement of the 
town. He lived in the marriage slate with the same wife nearly 69 years, but left no 
descendants. 

< He saw this town rise from a state of uncultivated nature to its opulent improve- 
ment; witnessed the ordination of five ministers of the Gospel within the town, four of 
them over the same society in succession : saw three houses erected for public worship ; 
three court houses rising on the same spot, one after another, for the administration of 
justice, and three gaols as a terror to evil doers. Thus has ended the life of an honest 
man, the noblest work of God.' 



1718.] VIEW OF THE TOWN. 43 

A regular block house was placed north of Adams square, where 
a long iron cannon was subsequently mounted to give the alarm o* 
coming danger. During the French war, this gun was removed to 
the green near the meetinghouse. On the commencement of the 
revolution, it was posted west of the Court House, and its voice call- 
ed our citizens to arms when the tidings of the march to Lexington 
roused the land. Since, it has rested with the other artillery of the 
town. 

Many of the scattered houses were protected by outworks, as 
well as guarded by the bold spirit of the inmates. Joshua Rice 
held his garrison a mile westward of the old mill place, where a cellar 
still remains to carry back the memory to days when a man's house 
was literally his castle, when tlie musket was laid on the plough 
beam, and the sword was by the side while the hand was on the 
sickle. From the remote position of Jonas Rice and his brother 
planters of Sagatabscot hill, it is probable some fortified structure 
there afforded them security. 

On Mill brook, over the western sluice, where the stream is 
parted by the little island above the bridge, was a saw mill erected 
by Capt. John Wing, then owned by Thomas Palmer and Cornelius 
Waldo of Boston, and John Oulton of Marblehead, copartners of ex- 
tensive commercial business, and proprietors of wide tracts of land. 
The pond, overflowing the valley above, extended its eastern mar- 
gin to the present Boston road. 

Obediah Ward had built a saw mill above the works long known 
as the Red Mills, near the upper canal lock, which he devised by 
his will, dated Dec. 16, 1717, to his son Richard. 

The first corn mill was erected by Elijah Chase, near the Quin- 
sigamond Paper Mills, on the Blackstone river. For many years 
it was the only accommodation of the kind. 

The traveller of 1718, on entering the town from the head of 
Q,uinsigamond, following the Connecticut road, first passed the 
houses of Benjamin Crosbee and Isaac Miller, on opposite sides of 
the way, where the buildings of the town farm now stand. 

Westward, about half a mile, was the land granted to Ephraim 
Curtis, where his son then lived, still owned by his descendants. 

Next, was the house of Thomas Haggat, whose daughter was the 
first female born in Worcester. 1 

1 Haggat among other occupations, manufactured wooden shovels. With the me- 
chanical ingenuity, he possessed the trading propensity of a Yankee. Having set off 
on an excursion, to dispose of a stock of wooden wares, he was induced to exchange 



44 VIEW OF THE TOWN. [1718. 

Passing his residence, the Connecticut road followed the little way 
leading to the Lancaster road, by the dwelling of Ichabod and 
Thomas Brown, to the corner north of Adams square, where Henry 
Lee, Esq. then resided. 

Turning south, the path went through the valley a few rods west- 
ward of the highway now used, to the house of Nathaniel Hench- 
man, a son of that distinguished officer who was one of the founders 
of the town. 1 

The Country road crossed Mill brook, by a fording place about 
a fourth of a mile north of the present bridge. After passing the 
fort and mill, it turned west and ascended the hill, to the settlement 
of Joshua Rice. It was continued by a circuitous route to New 
Worcester. 

The Lancaster way, coming from the north, along the present 
Boston road, went through Main street, then shaded by primeval 
forests, to the garrison house of Deacon Daniel Heywood. 2 Moses 
Rice had thus early opened an ordinary or tavern, 3 a few rods north 
of the Town Hall. Daniel Ward had built nearly opposite the old 
south'meeting house. The house of Jonathan Hubbard, the first man 
who died]after the resettlement, and that of James Rice, more south, 
completes the enumeration of edifices where population has become 
most crowded. 

After Jonas Rice became a resident of the town, a road was made 
from the head of the pond, passing by the houses of James Taylor, 
Moses Leonard, Palmer Goulding, Richard Flagg, running along 
the grass grown path east of the Grafton road, and through the fields, 
by Deacon Nathaniel Moore's to Jonas Rice's ; 4 thence it was car- 
horses frequently, always giving some part of bis own merchandize to equalize the pre- 
tended difference of value. This trade was conducted with so little profit, that the 
shovel merchant, at the conclusion, was glad to regain his original steed by parting wit a 
all his remaining property in wood work. On returning with the same animal with 
which he had commenced his journey, without any of his stock in trade, he gravely re- 
marked that ' he had saved his horse though he had lost his shovels.' 

1 Henchman was an eccentric man, having even stronger peculiarities of manner 
than are usual attributes of celibacy. He constructed his coffin and hollowed his grave 
with his own hands many years before his decease. Willing to derive benefit while 
living from the first of these tenements of mortality, the box was deposited in the garret, 
and annually filled with the productions of his garden, until he took personal possession. 
A stone long marked the spot where his remains reposed amid the fields he cultivated ; 
but no memorial now indicates the place of his rest. Several aged apple trees planted 
by him near his dwelling, on the farm of the late Levi Lincoln, still survive. On his de- 
c ease, the land descended to the family of the late Gov. John Hancock. 

2 On the site of the Central Exchange. 3 Now United States Hotel. 

* The position of these buildings is indicated on H. Stebbins's Map of Worcester, 
published by C. Harris, 1833. \ 



1718.] VIEW OF THE TOWN. 45 

ried westward, in a direct course, across Raccoon Plain to Halfway 
river, where it joined the Connecticut path. 

These were the two great highways of the town. A log placed 
over the stream where the canal bridge now stands on Front street, 
accommodated those who passed by the house of James Holmes, to 
that of Gershom Rice, on the south side of the Grafton road, where 
the first orchard was planted. This way led into the old Connecti- 
cut road through Hassanamesset to Springfield. 

A path along Summer street went to the first burial place, situa- 
ted north of the junction of Thomas street. A beautiful grove of 
oaks waved over the graves of the forefathers of the hamlet, em- 
blems of the sturdy characters and hardy virtues of those whose 
narrow beds they shaded. In the recollection of many living inhab- 
itants, little piles of stone and mouldering heaps of turf marked the 
last homes of the early settlers. The hillocks and the trees have 
disappeared in the progress of improvement, and the cemetery is no 
longer distinguishable from the green spots unhallowed by the rest 
of the dead. 1 

The house of Gershom Rice, was the place where meetings for 
religious worship were first held. A building was soon erected for 
devotional exercises on Green street, north of the union of Franklin 
street, where the inhabitants assembled on the Sabbath, until a more 
spacious meeting house was reared, in 1719, on the site of the old 
south church. 

There were in Worcester in 1718, if the evidence of the proprie- 
tary records is to be credited, fifty eight dwelling houses. Tradition 
says they were humble edifices, principally of logs, one story high, 
with ample stone chimneys. Some were furnished with windows of 
diamond glass, where the resources of the proprietor afforded means 
for procuring such luxury ; the light was admitted in many, through 
the dim transparency of oiled paper. It is hardly necessary to add, 
that all have long since sunk in decay, or been removed to give 
place to the more splendid habitations of modern times. 

Worcester, probably, contained at this period, about two hun- 
dred souls. 

Certificates, entered by direction of the Committee, on the books 
of the proprietors, show that the individual named below, had com- 
plied with the order of the Court, by erecting houses upon the lots 
granted, and occupying them three years. The figures indicate 

iThis spot is enclosed [1336] within the play ground of the Brick School House, on 
Thomas 'and Summer streets. 



46 FIRST PROPRIETORS. [1718. 

the number of acres assigned to each, on the first division of lands. 

Jonas Rice, 80: James Rice, 100: Gershom Rice, 80 : all of 
Marlborough: Joshua Rice, 30 : Elisha Rice, 30 : Thomas Glea- 
son, 30: Obediah Ward, 30 : Aaron Adams, 30 : David Haynes, 
30 : Richard Ward, 30 : Ephraim Curtis, 50 : George Parmeter, GO : 
Josiah Rice, 30 : Ephraim Rice, 30 : Ephraim Rice, jun. 30 : Rev. 
Benjamin Allen, 40 : Nathaniel Moore, 40 : all of Sudbury : John 
Elliot and John Smith, 180: Daniel Henchman, ISO: Jonathan 
Tyng, 40 : Stephen Minot, 20 : William Paine, 20 : Thomas Pal- 
mer, Cornelius Waldo, (with John Oulton of Marblehead,) 213 : 
Peter Goulding, 50 : Nathaniel Jones, 40 : George Danson, 200: 
all of Boston : Jacob Leonard, 40 : Moses Leonard, 30 : Isaac 
Leonard, 40: all of Bridgewater : Isaac Wheeler, 40; of Medfield: 
Thomas Brown, 30 : Ichabod Brown, 30 : Thomas Prentice, CO: of 
Newtown : James Taylor, 30: Daniel Livermore, 40: of Maiden: 
Thomas Haggat, 20 : of Andover : James Holmes, 40 : of Wood- 
stock : Leonard Hoar, 30 : Henry Lee, 30 : Daniel Heywood, 40 : 
Josiah Hey wood 30 ; of Concord: Thomas Binney, 40: John Bar- 
ron, 50; James Butler, 40 : Benjamin Fletcher, 30 : Benjamin Bar- 
ron, 30. 

Lots of 40 acres each were assigned for the use of schools, the 
minister and the ministry, and to Col. Adam Winthrop, Col. John 
Ballantine, Col. William Dudley, Col. William Taylor, and Capt. 
Thomas Howe, of the Committee. Other lots were granted very 
early to Benjamin Flagg, David Bigelow and John Stearns, of Wa- 
tertown : Peter King, Henry Knapp, James Knapp, of Sudbury : 
John Gray, Jonathan Marble, Isaac Miller, Joseph Crosbee, Martha 
Serjent and Andrew Mc Farland. 

Such is the account which record and tradition afford of the ap- 
pearance of the town in its infancy : not uninteresting from the com- 
parison of vigorous maturity with early feebleness. 1 

1 When the Indian foe disappeared and the inhabitants became strong, a warfare was 
commenced and long continued, with the ferocious animals and poisonous reptiles in- 
festing the township. Large bounties were offered for their destruction. In 1728, 
the sum of 3 pence was voted for the death of a rattlesnake, and a draft of £1 on 
the treasury was accompanied with 80 rattles as vouchers. The gratuity was annual- 
ly increased in amount as the common enemy diminished. In 1734, Mr. Jonas Moore 
claimed payment for 72 in his own right. The last demand was as recent as 1758, when 
16 serpents were paid for at the rate of Id. each. 

The young settlements were much harrassed by the incursions of troops of wolves. 
In 1734, it is recorded, ' that notwithstanding the law of the Province giving encourage- 
ment for the destruction of wolves, they still continue very troublesome and mischievous, 
especially among young cattle and sheep : whereby people were discouraged from 
keeping sheep, so necessary for clothing,' and a reward of £A was voted for their cap- 



1718] SCOTCH AND IRISH EMIGRANTS. 47 

The town of Worcester shared liberally in the accession to the 
population of New England, by the emigration, in the early years of 
the past century, of the decendants of a colony of Scots, who re- 
moved from Argyleshire, in the reign of James I. and formed a plan- 
tation in the north of Ireland, near Londonderry, in the province of 
Ulster. Adhering with conscientious fidelity to the presbyterian te- 
nets, they endured the persecution which pressed on the protestants 
during successive reigns. The accession of William, although it 
lightened their burdens, did not relieve dissenting christians from 
galling exactions. Allowed to retain their form of worship, they 
were compelled to contribute from their resources, to the support of 
another church. Loaded with tythes of the harvests of lands held 
by tenancy under exhorbitant rents, they embarked for a country 
where religious freedom was united with civil liberty, and neither 
tythingman nor taxgatherer had oppressive jurisdiction. In 1718, a- 
bout one hundred families arrived in Boston, and twenty others lan- 
ded at Casco, afterwards followed by new colonies, dispersed through 
the country. 1 

A company of the Scots early settled in Worcester, and here suf- 
fered illiberal opposition and even active hostility. Having formed 
a religious society, they commenced the erection of a meeting house 
on the west side of the Boston road. 2 The timbers had been raised 
and the building was in the progress of construction, when the in- 
habitants gathered tumultously by night, and demolished the struc- 
ture. Persons of consideration and respectability aided in the riot- 
ous work of violence, and the defenceless foreigners were compelled 
to submit to the wrong. Many, unable to endure the insults and bit- 
ter prejudices they encountered, joined their brethren of the same 

ture. In 1733, so great injury was done by these marauders, that the price of their 
heads was raised to £8. 

The precipitous cliff still called Rattlesnake rocks, was the favorite resort of wolves, 
bears, wild cats and serpents, in those days, rendering- the steep dangerous to man. 

The winged depredators on the husbandman's harvests were early proscribed. A 
bounty of 3d. thinned the armies of blackbirds, jays, and other feathered plunderers. 

i The grant by Massachusetts of unappropriated lands at the East, not affording a 
place suited to the wishes of the emigrants, after exploring the wilderness, they selected 
a township in New Hampshire, then called Nutfield, from the abundance of its forest 
fruits, and afterwards named Londonderry from the city of their sojourning in Ireland, 
where sixteen families assembled beneath a venerable oak, on the llth of April, 1719, 
to unite in devotional exercises Belknap. Parker's Century Sermon, 1819. 

The society that visited Boston under the spiritual guidance of the Rev. James 
Moorhead, in 1727, formed the Federal street church in that city. Dr Channing's ser- 
mon, on the ordination of Mr. Gannet, 1824. 

3 North of the house of Frederic W. Paine, Esq. 



43 SCOTCH AND IRISH EMIGRANTS. [1718. 

denomination, who, under the charge of the Rev. Mr. Abercrombie, 
commenced the settlement of the town of Pelham, in the county of 
Hampshire. 

They were industrious, frugal, and peaceful, contributing to the 
prosperity of the province, by the example of diligence and the in- 
troduction of useful arts. ' They brought with them,' says the faith- 
ful historian of New Hampshire, 1 ' the necessary materials for the 
manufacture of linen : and their spinning wheels, turned by the foot, 
were a novelty in the country. They also introduced the culture of 
potatos, which were first planted in the garden of Nathaniel Walker 
of Andovcr.' The characteristic of the age in which they lived was 
not charity. Differences of language, habits, and ceremonial, laid 
the foundation of unreasonable hatred, and the strangers were not 
treated with common decency by their English neighbors. Their 
settlements, in other places, were approached by bodies of armed men, 
and their property, in some instances, wantonly destroyed. They 
were every where abused and misrepresented as Irish, a people then 
generally but undeservedly obnoxious; a reproach peculiarly griev- 
ous to the emigrants. 'We are supprised,' writes the Rev. Mr. Mc 
Gregoire, the pastor of Londonderry, in a letter to Gov. Shute, bear" 
► ingdate in 1720, as quoted by Belknap, 'to hear ourselves termed 
Irish people, when we so frequently ventured our all for the British 
crown and liberties against the Irish papists, and gave all tests of our 
loyalty which the government of Ireland required, and are always 
ready to do the same when required.' The jealousy with which they 
were first regarded, finally yielded to the influence of their simple 
virtues and sterling worth. 2 

1 Belknap's New Hampshire, i. 193. Farmer's edition. 

2 Among- those who remained in Worcester, after the removal of their countrymen 
were the following persons, whose names are collected from the records of the town and 
county. 

James Mc Gregoire, William Mc Han, John Duncan, John Mc Clentick, 

James Furgerson, John Bailey, Duncan Graham, James Glasford, 

John Clark, Andrew Farrand, Hugh Kelso, James Hambleton, 

AlexanderMcKonkey, William Caldwell, James Forbush, Robert Lorlhog, 

James Mc Clellan, William Young, Andrew McFarland, James Thomington, 
William Gray, Robert Crawford, Patrick Peables, John Mc Konkey, 

Robert Gray. Robert Peables, John Peables, Abraham Blair. 

Mathew Gray, Robert Barbour, 

Matthew Thornton, who, as delegate to the Continental Congress from New Hamp- 
shire, signed the declaration of Independence, is said, by his biographer, to have resided 
when a child among the emigrants in Worcester. 



1718.] SCOTCH AND IRISH EMIGRANTS. 49 

Abraham Blair, an ancestor of some of our present townsmen, 
distinguished himself in the memorable siege of Londonderry, in 
1689. After a series of bloody 1 i ties, the besieged were reduced to 
such extremity by famine ' that a dog's head was held dog cheap at 
half a crown.' Blair, William Caldwell, and a few others, as an hon- 
orary testimonial of their services were made free of taxation through- 
out the British provinces. 

The Scotch were accompanied by a kw of the native Irish, with 
whom they had contracted relationship during their long residence, 
or been attached by community of sentiment and suffering. 

Amoncr those deriving nativity from Ireland, were the ancestors 
of the Young family, who first introduced and planted here the use- 
ful potato. 1 John Young died June 30, 1730, at the great age of 107 
years : his son David, died Dec. 26, 1736, aged 94. 2 

The toils and dangers of original settlement being past, the plan- 
tation advanced with vigorous and rapid growth. The swelling pop- 
ulation and expanding resources required municipal powers for the 
manacrement of the common interests of the inhabitants. In 1721, 
the freeholders and proprietors presented a petition to the General 
Court for incorporation, which was intrusted to John Houghton, 
Esq. of Lancaster, and Peter Rice of Marlborough, with the follow- 
ing letter from Jonas and Gershom Rice, the ' fathers of the town,' 
dated May 31, 1721. 

'Gentlemen : Whereas sundry of the freeholders and proprietors 
of Worcester, having preferred a petition to the General Assembly, 
on several heads, as appears by said petition, have empowered us to 

1 It is remarkable that the esculent, now considered essentially necessary for table and 
farm, should have been introduced at a period so late. It is related, that some of our 
early inhabitants, after enjoying' the hospitality of one of the Irish families, were each 
presented with a few potatos for planting. Unwilling to give offence by refusing the 
present, they accepted the donation: but suspecting the poisonous quality, the}' carried 
the roots only to the next swamp, and there threw them away, as unsafe to enter their 
homes. 

2 The following inscriptions are chiselled on the common head stone placed over their 
graves in the old burial place: 

' Here lies interred the remains of ' Here lies interred the remains of 

John Young, who was born David Young, who was born in 

in the Isle of Bert, near London- the parish of Tahbeyn, county of 

derry, in the kingdom of Ireland. Donegal and kingdom of Ireland. 

He departed this life, June He departed this life, December 

30, 1730, aged 107 years.' 26, aged 94 years.' 

' The aged son and the more aged father 

Beneath (these) stones, Their mould'ring bones 
Here rest together.' 



50 INCORPORATION. [1722. 

take care that it be seasonably entered and moved ; inasmuch as it 
is a difficult time, by reason of a contagious distemper now raging in 
Boston, we know not where the session will be ; we, therefore hum- 
bly crave the favor of you, Gentlemen, to take the trouble upon you, 
to enter said petition and to move it in the court as there is opportu- 
nity.' 

' So, craving your serious thoughtfulness for the poor, distressed 
town of Worcester, we subscribe ourselves your humble servants,' 

Gershom Rice, 
Jonas Rice.' 

Other petitions of similar import were subsequently presented, 
and, on the 14th of June, 1722, a resolve passed the Legislature, 
vesting the Inhabitants of Worcester with the powers and privileges 
of other towns within the province, and directing that the freehold- 
ers and inhabitants be assembled on the last Wednesday of Septem- 
ber then next, to choose all town officers, as by law accustomed for 
towns to do at their annual meetings in March. 

Under the authority of this resolve, a warrant was issued by 
Francis Fulham, Esq. of Weston : and on the 28th day of September 
1722, the inhabitants convened in their first town meeting. Muni- 
cipal officers were chosen, and from that day, Worcester, then in the 
County of Middlesex, assumed her place among the regularly or- 
ganized towns of the Commonwealth. 



CHAPTER V. 

1722 to 1765. Lovell's war and French wars. Selectmen's petition, 1724. Gershom 
Rice's letter, 1724. Uriah Ward. Col. Chandler's orders. Selectmen's petition, 
1725. Capt. Wright's letters, 1725. Benjamin Flagg's letter, 1725. County estab- 
lished, 1731. Gov. Belcher's visit, 1735. Soldiers. Excise, 1754. French neutrals 
1755. Military exertions, 1756. Col. Chandler's report, 1757. Men in service dur- 
ing French wars. Division of the county and removal of the courts opposed. 

The peace of the country was disturbed by the renewal of hos- 
tilities by the eastern Indians, in 1722, when that war broke out 
which derives its distinctive appellation from Lovell, its hero and 
martyr. The native tribes of Massachusetts had long ceased to be 
formidable ; but the incursions of the allies of the French from 



1724.] SELECTMEN'S PETITION. 51 

Canada spread alarm along the exposed frontier, and rendered mil- 
itary force necessary for the security of the settlements. Wor- 
cester, in 1722, furnished five men for the country's service, in the 
company of scouts under Major John Chandler. Two were posted 
at Leicester. 1 Two others, 2 in an independent party, commanded 
by Benjamin Flagg, with the rank of serjeant, kept garrison in this 
town or ranged the woods. 

In the autumn of 1723, seven of the inhabitants of Worcester en- 
listed as soldiers and served during the winter. Five 3 were posted 
at Rutland under Capt. Samuel Wright : Two 4 were in Capt. Jo- 
seph Kellog's company. 

In the spring of 1724, the safety of the town was endangered by 
numerous parties of hostile Indians lurking in the woods ; May 3, 
1724, the selectmen presented the following petition for aid. 

' To his Honor, the Lieut. Governor and Commander in chief, in 
and over his Majesty's Province of the Massachusetts Bay in New- 
England. 

' The petition of the subscribers, humbly sheweth : Whereas, 
the town of Worcester is very much exposed to the Indian rebels in 
the present war, there being a great distance between the towns 
of Lancaster and Rutland, in which we lie open to the enemy, we 
do therefore, at the desire of the principal part of our inhabitants, 
humbly lay our difficulties before your honor ; earnestly entreating 
that you would be pleased, in your great wisdom, so far to commis- 
erate our distressed state, as to send us some soldiers to strengthen 
our front garrisons and scout our woods : otherwise we fear the sad 
effects which may happen ; there being no scout in our woods, or 
soldiers to guard our defensible places, or inhabitants most exposed 
and very much disheartened by reason of the present danger, they 
apprehend themselves to be in ; and if your honor will be pleased to 
afford us some relief, it will be a means to cause our front garrisons 
to keep their stations ; otherwise, we humbly conceive, it is morally 
impossible they should : and for that great privilege to your honor's 
poor petitioners, as in duty bound shall ever pray, 

Nathaniel Moore, Benjamin Flagg, jr. ) Selectmen of 
James McLellan, James Holden, > Worcester. 5 

The greater pressure of danger on other towns, scattered over 

1 John Gray and Robert Crawford. 2 Ephraim Roper and James Knapp. 

3 Zebediah Rice, Phineas Jones, John Crawford, Uriah Ward, Moses Rice. 

4 John Serjent, Daniel Shattuck. 5 Province files, 1724. 



52 GERSHOM RICE'S LETTER. [1724. 

the wide territory in the rapid advance of cultivation, prevented im- 
mediate relief being afforded. A letter addressed to Col. Chan- 
dler, June 21, 1724, exhibits vivid description of the condition of 
the inhabitants of Worcester. 

' Honored Sir : With all due submission, these are to lay before 
your honor, the distressed condition of this poor place. Through 
God's goodness the Indians have made no attack upon us as yet, 
but we are constantly under surprising fears of it. We received 
the caution from your honor, with the late intelligence of the In- 
dians coming over the lake : also we hear of the late mischief done 
at Hatfield ; and just now we have a post from Rutland with an 
account of the continual discoveries of the enemy, and the last 
night our town was alarmed by (as one of our inhabitants says) 
discovering an Indian : so that this day (Sunday) we have but a 
thin meeting : the more because some dare not stay from home. 
I have been but very loth to trouble your honor, being sensi- 
ble of the pressure of business : but waiting so long and having no 
help, and being so very much exposed, your honor will excuse me. 
Our town is not only very much exposed, being so open to the ene- 
my, but we are no way capable of defending ourselves ; nor can we 
expect much help from one another. A small number of Indians, 
according to appearance, might overcome the whole place. Fur- 
ther, my house, though near the centre, is almost an outside. I have 
no fort about it : nor if I were able to build have I now sufficient 
strength to keep it myself. I have began to get some timber to for- 
tify, but am too weak handed to go through, and understanding the 
backwardness of the country to support us, we are very much dis- 
heartened. We have an expectation upon your honor to be a father 
to us, and we hope the country will not see us stand here waiting to 
be a prey to our enemies. We are informed that it is objected 
against our having assistance, that Brookfield, Rutland and Leicester 
defend us ; but let any one consider that understands the ground. 
It is affirmed to me by those that should be best able to know, that 
it is fourteen miles from Brookfield to Rutland, and that a line 
drawn from Brookfield to Rutland will be fifteen miles of our set 
tlement. As to Leicester, the people there more need help from us 
than are able to render us any, as likewise do Shrewsbury and Has- 
sanamesit. Rutland and Brookfield being well garrisoned and man- 
ned, what is more common than for them (the enemy) to go a little 
further for advantage in weaker spots ? The late instance at Hat- 



1724.] COL. CHANDLER'S LETTER. 53 

field, as well as many others formerly and lately are sufficient wit- 
nesses. If we cannot be supported now about our harvest, we 
must be starved out of necessity. Instead of assistance, we cannot 
but remind your honor, that we now have five of our soldiers at Rut- 
land in the service ; we are informed by rumor, we are allowed ten 
soldiers, for which we are thankful ; but pray, it be possible that the 
number might be doubled, and that they might be sent as speedily 
as possible. I am ashamed I detain your honor so long. I shall con- 
clude by wishing you all prosperity. I am your honor's to com- 
manc l Gershom Rice.' 

' Sundry of our principal inhabitants being present, send their 
humble duty to your honor, and pray that your honor would take 
what is here written unto your serious and thoughtful consideration, 
and move herein unto the honored Lieut. Governor and the Council.' 1 

The expectation of immediate reenforcement was disappointed. 
Col. Chandler, then in Watertown, writes June 22, to the Gover- 
nor and Council : ' I am sorry that the poor people of Worcester, 
Leicester, and Brimfield, find themselves mistaken in having men 
allowed them to scout and guard said towns. I pray your honor's 
consideration of the distressed circumstances of the poor people of 
these towns, as well as other the frontiers : for the encouragement of 
whom I shall always be ready to obey such orders as your honors 
shall be pleased to give.' 

In July, orders were issued to Col. Chandler, to impress twenty 
men for the frontier service. Subsequently, other detachments 
were made from other regiments, and nineteen soldiers were sta- 
tioned at Worcester, where they remained until the 29th of Octo- 
ber, 1724, when they were dismissed. 2 

On the 3d of August, 1724, Uriah Ward who enlisted in the 

1 American Antiquarian Society's Manuscripts. 
2 July, 1724. The company of Capt. William Chandler of Woodstock was stationed 
at Leicester and Rutland. The following are the numbers of men posted in the exposed 
towns at this time: 

Shrewsbury, 10. Brookfield, 10. 

Leicester, 29. Lancaster, 14. 

Rutland, 38. Lunenburg, 12. 

In Worcester, there were 19: viz. Ephraim Roper, Jonathan Rugg, Samuel Rice, 

Daniel Coney, Jesse Taylor, William Gibbs, Abraham Joslin, John Death, William 

Harris, Ephraim Whitcomb, John Demorris, Jesse How, Joseph Woods, Samuel 

Fletcher, John Holland, Robert Hunt, Samuel Cobley, Samuel Rumlymarsh, Peter 

Lawrence. 

Those at Worcester, Shrewsbury and Leicester, were posted as independent guards 
to the inhabitants, without commissioned officers. 



54 INDIAN HOSTILITIES. [1724. 

country's service, from Worcester, was killed at Rutland. The fol- 
lowing account of the transaction is given by Capt. Wright, com- 
manding at that post. 

' About twelve o'clock, five men and a boy being in a meadow in 
the middle of the town making hay, a number of Indians surround- 
ed them, and shot first at the boy, which alarmed the men ; they run 
to their guns, but the Indians shot upon them, and kept them from 
their o-uns, and shot down three of the men and scalped them, woun- 
ded another in the arm, a flesh wound, who got home without other 
injury : the first got home without any damage ; the boy is not yet 
found. The action was hardly over before Col. Tyng came into 
town with thirty men, but was a little too late : but we joined him, 
and divided our men, one party with the Colonel to follow, the other 
with me to head them : but they got away. 

' Since Col. Tyng went from us, we have made a more particular 
discovery of their number and contrivance in waylaying the mead- 
ow where they (the Indians) killed the people. There being in 
number about thirty, as near as can be thought, by their squatting 
places or seats when they sat to watch. By what we can learn, they 
might be near half the company that lay in ambush to shoot down 
those who come to the relief, so that if there were but a small par- 
ty of men had gone, they would likely have shot them down before 
they had seen the Indians.' 

From a letter of Col. Chandler, it may be inferred, that the pres- 
ence of the soldiers saved Worcester from desolation. On the 7th 
of August, ' an Indian was discovered from a garrison house and fired 
on by the guard. A soldier and a boy being out near a meadow, 
spied an Indian nearer to the garrison than they were. The boy 
ran away. The soldier presented his gun and was ready to fire, 
when two more rose up by his side ; whereupon he did not venture 
to fire, but fled : and both came safe to the garrison. During the 
night their noises were heard crying as wolves, the people made an 
alarm, and the Indians beat upon a deserted house, drumming vio- 
lently upon the sides, and so went off.' 

The season for the attempts of the enemy having passed, the for- 
ces were reduced, and those posted at Worcester were dismissed in 
the end of October. 

Early in April, 1725, Col. Chandler, was directed to send orders 
to the officers in the several frontier towns within his regiment, in- 
cluding Worcester, ' to keep the soldiers and inhabitants upon a strict 
duty, and to see that they be not off their guard, but well prepared 



1725.] SELECTMEN'S LETTER. 55 

to receive the enemy, who they may expect will attack them ; and 
especially that no man go abroad without his arms, and in places of 
hazard that they do not go out except in companies.' 

On the 8th of April, Gov. Dummer communicated information to 
Col. Chandler that several parties of Indians were on their way from 
Canada, and ordered him ' to visit the exposed towns in his regiment, 
and charge the people to be vigilant and careful in their duty, and 
not expose themselves by going abroad unarmed and in small num- 
bers, lest the enemy gain some great advantage over them by such 
stupid neglect as many of our people have been guilty of on such 
occasions.' 

Parties of the Indians having made their appearance in the vicin- 
ity, the inhabitants petitioned the government for succor. The fol- 
lowing letter was addressed to Gov. Dummer, April 30, 1725. 

' To his Honor the Lt. Governor : With all dutiful respect, these 
are to acquaint your honor, that news hath just now come unto us of 
two companies of Indians discovered between us and Wachuset ; and 
whereas, we the last summer labored under great difficulties, and 
hardships severe to be borne, by reason of the war with the Indian 
enemy, not being able to raise corn so much as was needful, or to 
procure sufficiency of other provision, so as it was rendered very dif- 
ficult to subsist ourselves and families : and, we apprehend, that with- 
out your honors pleased to afford us some relief in our present dis- 
tressed state, by strengthening our hands, that the corn cannot be 
planted, the earth tilled, the harvests gathered, or food provided, and 
that the settlements in the town will be entirely broken up : where- 
fore we humbly entreat your honor, that if it may be, we may have 
some speedy assistance of soldiers, to defend us and scout the woods. 
Our numbers are but small, and many disheartened by reason of the 
exposed situation of the town. We are the more earnest in our en- 
treaty for the present relief, as it was so late last summer before we 
had soldiers that we are exceeding behind with our needful busi- 
ness. 

'Craving your thoughtfulness ofthese matters, we are in all grati- 
tude and respect your humble petitioners, 

Nathaniel Moore, Benjamin Flagg, jr. 
Moses Leonard, James Holden, 
James McLellan, Selectmen.' 

The following letter from Capt. Samuel Wright to Col. Chand- 



56 CAPT. WRIGHT'S LETTERS. [1725. 

ler, 1 May 24, 1725, shows that the request was complied with, al- 
though not until after some delay. 

' Honored Sir : These are to inform your honor that I have receiv- 
ed the men from your regiment for Worcester. Though some, at 
least two, not so able and effective as I could be glad they were, viz: 
Ebenezer White and John Field, both from Capt. Thayer of Men- 
don, who are not able to travel. His honor's the Lt. Governor's or- 
der to me was, that I should put suitable officers over the men and 
that they should scout and guard. But inasmuch as my orders are 
not so clear as that I dare venture to put one of the inhabitants offi- 
cer over them, I have left them under the care and conduct of Capt. 
Pond's son at present: but inasmuch as he, nor any of the men have 
not any knowledge of the woods, so are not like to do much service 
in scouting, unless there be an inhabitant put an officer over them, 
I desire therefore you would get his honor's leave to put Moses Rice 
and Benjamin Flagg to be the officer over them alternately, when 
one comes in, the other to go out, to have but one man's pay : which 
will be likely to have the duty better performed, and is the mind of 

the town Your honor's very humble and dutiful servant, 

Samuel Wright.' 

Another letter from Capt. Wright, sent from Worcester by Moses 
Rice, and dated in May, 1725, is too curious to be omitted. 

' May it please your honor : I give your honor thanks for care of us 
in sending a new recruit of 12 men. Your honor's directions were, 
to scout, but at present we have business. The Indians are among 
us, and have discovered themselves several times, and we have had 
several pursuits after them, and have been very vigilant in prosecut- 
ing all methods to come up with them by watching and ranging the 
swamps and lurking places, and by watching a nights in private pla- 
ces without the garrisons : but they are so much like wolves that we 
cannot yet surprise them, but hope we shall by some means trepan 
them. We have now taken a method to hunt them with dogs, and 
have started them out of their thickets twice, and see them run out, 
but at such a distance we could not come at them. Having an op- 
portunity, thought it my duty to acquaint your honor with it : but 
having but a minutes time to write could but only give you an ac- 
count in short, and remain your honor's dutiful and obliged servant. 

Samuel Wright.' 

1 American Antiquarian Society's Manuscripts. 



1725.] BENJAMIN FLAGG'S LETTER. 57 

The names and numbers of those posted at Worcester within this 
year cannot now be ascertained. An incident which occurred dur- 
ing the period of their service is related in a letter, July 17, 1725, 
from Benjamin Flagg. 

' Honored Sir : These are to inform you that we this day went 
out as a guard to those that worked in the meadow to gather in their 
hay, of fourteen men, with those that worked, who wrought in two or 
three places near to one another. As we scouted the swamps round 
the meadow, we did discover Indian tracks, in the morning, in the 
swamp by the meadow side, which made us very strict upon our 
guard, but made not anymore discovery until the middle of the day, 
we sat to eat victuals upon a knoll where we thought we might be 
safe ; but while we were eating, a dog that was with us barked and 
ran out from us. I immediately sent three men to discover, who ran, 
and immediately we heard a running among the brush : which was 
Indians, who had crawled up the brush to make a shot at us. We 
ran so fast upon them that the grass rose up under their tracks, but 
could not see them, the brush being so thick. We pursued them 
where we heard them whistle one to another in the thicket, but they 
scattered and scampered so we could not find them : but found 
where they had sat down and just gone. We pursued on after the 
enemy : but it is as easy to find a needle in a wood, as find them 
when scattered. So we returned. This I have thought meet to ac- 
quaint your honor of, and so I remain, your honor's humble and 
obliged servant. These with care and speed. Benjamin Flagg.' 

The sufferings of the frontier settlements were terminated by the 
treaty concluded with the Indians in the following winter, (Dec. 
15,) and ratified in the spring of 1726. 

Although relieved from the danger and alarm of hostile invasion, 
the progress of the town in population and wealth was slow during 
the succeeding years. 1 

1 In May 1724, the town had received an amount proportioned to its taxation, of the 
bills of credit or stock of the Public Bank, and applied the depreciating paper currency 
to finish the meeting house. In March, 172S, trustees were appointed to obtain the 
sum of £170, 15 s. granted to Worcester from the emission of £60, 000, and make loans 
to the inhabitants from this fund, not exceeding £10 nor less than £5 to each. 

Capt. Nathaniel Jones and Ensign Moses Leonard were trustees of the first loan : 
Nathaniel Moore, Daniel Hey wood and John Hubbard of the second. 

May, 1726, the inhabitants voted, that thanks be returned to Hon. Adam Winthrop, 
for his bounty in bestowing upon the town a cushion as furniture for the pulpit, and 
that the town clerk present his honor a copy of said vote. 

8 



58 COUNTY INCORPORATED. [1781. 

The act erecting the County of Worcester, passed April 2, 1731, 
to take effect from the 10th of July following. Its provisions inclu- 
ded Worcester, Lancaster, Westhorough, Shrewsbury, Southbor- 
ough, Leicester, Rutland, Lunenburg, and the south town laid out 
to the Narraganset soldiers, 1 now Westminster, taken from Middle- 
sex : Mendon, Woodstock, now in Connecticut, Sutton, including 
Hassanameset, now Grafton, Uxbridge, the land granted to the peti- 
tioners of Medfield, now Sturbridge, from Suffolk: and Brookfield 
from the County of Hampshire. 

The location of the shire town of the new county occasioned 
much debate and diversity of opinion. For many years, Sutton, 
Lancaster, Mendon, and Brookfield, stood higher in rank, graduated 
on population and valuation, than Worcester. The central position 
of the latter town, gave it advantage over its competitors for the hon- 
or of becoming the capital. The proposition to make Lancaster 
and Worcester half shires, having the sessions of courts held alter- 
nately in each, would have prevailed, except for the opposition of 
Joseph Wilder, Esq. who remonstrated against the administration 
of justice in Lancaster, lest the morals of its people should be cor- 
rupted. His influence decided a question of so much importance 
to its prosperity in favor of the present metropolis. 

The first Court of Probate was held in the meeting house, July 
13, 1731, and the Common Pleas and General Sessions of the Peace 
10th of August following, by the Hon. John Chandler, then of 
Woodstock, Chief Justice of both tribunals. A sermon was preached 
on the occasion by the Rev. John Prentice of Lancaster. The Su- 
perior Court of Judicature was held on the 22d of September. The 
centennial anniversary of its session was commemorated October 

March, 1729 : voted tliat the constable warn town meetings in future by going from 
house to house. 1735, the selectmen were directed to erect a suitable sign post, at the 
town's charge, near the meeting house, and the constables to serve notices by posting 
them thereon. 

May 17, 1732, John Chandler, Esq., Capt. Jonas Rice and Mr. Benjamin Flagg, jr. 
were of a committee to return thanks to Mr. Wigglesworth Switcher of Boston for the 
present (of £o towards completing the meeting house) he lately made the town, and on 
the receipt of the same to dispose of it to the best advantage. 

1 In 1728 and 1733, seven townships were granted by the General Court to the descen- 
dants of the soldiers in the Narraganset war. The grantees assembled on Boston com- 
mon in 1733, and formed themselves into seven societies of 120 persons entitled to one 
township. On the 17th of October, a committee of three from each company elected 
at this meeting, made an allotment of lands. Amoskeag, then called Narraganset No. 4, 
was assigned to those from Worcester and 40 other towns. The number of grantees 
in each must necessarily have been very small ; their names are not preserved. 



1731.] COURTS. 59 

4th, 1831, when an address was delivered by the Hon. John Davis, 
of Worcester. 

One term of the Superior Court was held annually in October. 

The Inferior Court had its sittings in May, August, November 
and February. The General Sessions of the Peace was composed 
of all the justices within the county, who commonly attended and 
decided the matters presented for adjudication by vote. 1 

When public festivals were few, and anniversaries unfrequent, 
the terms of court were the great holidays of the county ; and its 
population assembled in Worcester, as on a general exchange, for 
the transaction of business, or pursuit of amusement in the rude 
sports of the period. The judicial proceedings, now forsaken, ex- 
cept by parties, witnesses and officers, were generally attended by 
a multitude that thronged the streets. Wrestling, fighting, and horse 
racing were common exercises. The stocks, pillory,' and whipping 
post crowned the summit of Court hill, then sloping with steep de- 
clivity to the highway, and partially covered with bushes. Frequent 
exhibitions of discipline attracted crowds of spectators.- 

Governor Belcher with the members of the Council, on their way 
to Albany to hold a conference with the Six Nations, visited Worces- 
ter, 21st of August, 1735. The Justices of the General Sessions 3 
with a delegation of citizens, waited on the executive officers of the 
government. Their complimentary address is preserved on the 
public records, and affords evidence that the controversy between 
the royal prerogative and the representatives of the people, then di- 
rected against grants for permanent salary, had not extended to a 
community who offered such loyal salutations. 



'Gen. Ruggles, the Chief Justice, in stern derision of the constitution of this courl, 
on one occasion, reprimanded a dog who had taken his seat beside his master, for ap- 
pearing on the bench before he had been qualified as a Justice of the Peace, and direc- 
ted him to go and be sworn before he came to vote there. 

2 The common practise of racing in Main street during the terms of the courts 
having become a nuisance, the following prohibitory vote was passed, September 19th, 
1745. ' Whosoever shall for the future, during the space of three years frcm the 
15th day of November next, in the times of the sittings of the superior court of judi- 
cature, court of assize and general jail delivery, the times of the sitting of the inferior 
court of common pleas and general sessions of the peace in this town, presume to run 
races on horseback, or pace their horses for trial in the country road, from the house of 
Mr. Joshua Eaton to the house where Mr. Richard Wheeler now lives, shall forfeit the 
sum of 20 s. lawful money to the use of the poor of the town.' 

3 The Justices present, were John Chandler, Josiah Wilder, William Ward, William 
Jennison, John Chandler, jr. Josiah Willard, Nahum Ward, Henry Lee, Samuel Wil- 
lard and John Keves. 



60 GOV. BELCHER'S VISIT. [1735. 

'May it please your excellency : We, his majesty's justices of 
the Court of General Sessions of the Peace, now held in this place, 
for the county of Worcester, by adjournment, humbly beg leave to 
congratulate your excellency's safe arrival in this part of your gov- 
ernment. It is with hearts full of joy that we now see your excellency's 
face, together with the honorable Council, in the shire town of this 
county, which has received its being and constitution by the favor of 
your excellency, under the Divine conduct and benediction, and by 
whose wise, mild and just administration, this whole province enjoys 
great quietness, which, we trust, will be continued and accepted in 
all places with all thankfulness. We are also sensibly affected that 
your excellency has condesoended, and is now pursuing, a very ne- 
cessary, although a very difficult and tedious journey, to visit the 
western frontiers, and meet with the Cagnawaga Indians and such 
tribes as may be desirous to renew their friendship with this govern- 
ment, in order to preserve and perpetuate the happy peace subsisting 
with them. May your excellency and the honorable gentlemen of 
the Council, and such of the honorable House of Representatives 
who attend you, be encompassed with the Divine favor as with a 
shield, and in due time returned in safety to your respective habita- 
tions.' 

The Hon. John Chandler having read this Address to the Gover- 
nor, in the language of the record, ' his excellency was pleased to 
return the following answer.' 

' Gentlemen : I thank you very kindly for the welcome you give 
me, with the hon. gentlemen of his majesty's Council and the gen- 
tlemen of the House of Representatives, into this part of his majes- 
ty's province. I take this opportunity of assuring you that I shall 
always cheerfully join my power, with yours, that justice and judg- 
ment may flourish in the county of Worcester, which will greatly 
contribute to the happiness and welfare of the people.' 

After this reply, the justices returned and immediately adjourned 
without day. 

William Jennison, Esq. and Mr. Gershom Rice, were appointed 
as a committee, in March, 1737, ' to repair to the Great Falls at the 
head of Providence river, or where Blackstone's river falls into the 
salt water, to see if it be possible for the falls to be made practica- 
ble for fish to come up ; provided the towns lying on said river, or 



1745.] FRENCH WAR. 61 

near adjoining, join in sending committees also.' It is noted that 
' these gentlemen offered to go upon free cost.' Although they re- 
ported that the stream could be made navigable for fish, and <£30 
were appropriated for the purpose, no benefit resulted from the ex- 
amination or grant, and the fund was restored to the treasury. 

The town contributed liberally to the defence of the province 
during the wars with the French, sent its men, and expended its 
means freely for the reduction of the fortresses of Nova Scotia and 
Canada. The voluntary exertions of the inhabitants in support of 
the government, and in aid of its military expeditions, would seem 
incredible, if they were not verified by authentic rolls, rendered on 
oath, by officers in command, and by the testimony of history to the 
ardor of the patriotic spirit pervading the community. 

The quota of Worcester, in the army of Sir William Pepperell, for 
the conquest of Cape Breton, is not exactly ascertained. Benjamin 
Gleason, who enlisted in that service, died before the walls of Louis- 
bourg, in 1745, before its surrender. Adonijah Rice, the first born 
of our native citizens, was in a company of rangers in the seige. 

In 1746, an alarm of a French invasion spread through the coun- 
try. The express sent by Governor Shirley arrived Sept. 23d, when 
the inhabitants were assembled in town meeting. 1 Abandoning 
their municipal affairs, they immediately adjourned and took up 
arms. Before sunset the whole military force was mustered, and 
ready to march with a week's provisions, to meet the enemy. A se- 
cond messenger arrived seasonably to prevent their departure. 

Fort Massachusetts had been erected by the province at the be- 
ginning of the war, in 1744, at Hoosick, now Williamstown, to guard 
the western frontier. After its capture by Vaudrieul, 2 in August, 
1746, it was strengthened and defended by a sufficient garrison, 
partly from Worcester. Eight of our men 3 were stationed there 
from Dec. 1747 to March 1748. 

The depredations of the Indians were so injurious in the summer 
of 1748, that 200 volunteers were enlisted from Col. Chandler's 
regiment, with some from Hampshire, to drive them back to Can- 
ada. Brigadier Dwight was entrusted with the command. One 
company of fifty three, all from Worcester, marched on the eighth 
of August, and returned after a campaign of seventeen days, having 

1 Town Records. 2 Williams's Vermont, i. 333. 

3 Abraham Bass, William McLellan, Silas Pratt, Abner Roberts, John Crawford, Sam- 
uel Brewer, Abraham Peck and Hezekiah Ward. These were under Capt. Elisha 
Hawley. 



G2 EXCISE. SOLDIERS. [1754. 

accomplished their object without loss, the enemy retiring without 
giving battle. The officers were Daniel Heywood, Major comman- 
dant : John Stearns, Captain : Tyrus Rice, Lieutenant : Richard 
Flagg, Ensign. 

In 1754, a bill was proposed, imposing an excise on wines and 
spirits, containing an extraordinary provision, obliging every house- 
holder, when required by a collector or deputy, to render an account 
under oath of the quantity of such liquors consumed in his family, 
not purchased of a licensed person, and to make payment of the du- 
ty. Gov. Shirley refused his assent, and procured the printing of 
the bill for the consideration of the people. Sept. 2, it was unani- 
mously voted ' to be contrary to the mind of the town that the act 
relating to the excise on the private consumption of spirituous liquors 
be passed into a law ; and that John Chandler, the representative 
of the town, use his utmost endeavor to prevent the same.' This is 
the earliest instance on our records of the instructions of the con- 
stituents to their representative. 

Thirteen soldiers were in service this year under 'Capt. John 
Johnson, and were employed at forts Western and Halifax, near 
Augusta and Waterville, on the Kennebeck river. 

In May, 1755, it appears from (he returns of Gen. John Winslow, 
seventeen men from Worcester were in his majesty's service in Nova 
Scotia under his command : seventeen more were posted at Fort 
Cumberland. John Walker, after having served in a provincial reg- 
iment in different grades, was commissioned as a captain in the 
king's army. 

Adonijah Rice and another soldier, engaged in the expedition 
against Crown Point, in August. In September, orders were issued 
to Col. Chandler to impress troops for the reenforcement of the army. 
Sept. 17, fourteen volunteers were returned from Worcester. 

On the 21st of October, the inhabitants instructed Col. Doolittle, 
the representative, to join in no measure countenancing a stamp 
act. 

In the autumn of 1755, that cruel measure of policy, the darkest 
blot on our history, the removal of the inhabitants of Nova Scotia 
and their dispersion through the provinces, was executed by General 
Winslow. About a thousand of the French Neutrals, as these un- 
fortunate people were called, arrived in Boston at the beginning of 
winter, and were distributed among the several towns designated by 
a committee. The proportion assigned to Worcester was eleven. 
They were received and supported by the selectmen, at the expense of 



1755.] FRENCH NEUTRALS. 63 

the province. The following description is annexed to an account 
rendered for their subsistence. 

' Eleven French persons ; an aged man and woman C5 or 70 years 
old, past labor ; the female very weak ; a girl about seventeen years 
old, who employs her whole time in taking care of the old people. 
They have four sons who support themselves. In this family are 
Jean Herbert and Monsieur Lebere. Justin White and his wife, 
aged about thirty, both very feeble, the man inclining to a consump- 
tion and unfit for labor ; they have three small children, the eldest 
but about five years old, all chargeable ; one of the children has 
been born very lately, so that the whole number now is twelve.' 

These families, torn from their homes, reduced from comparative 
affluence to desolate poverty, thrown among strangers of different 
language and religion, excited pity for their misfortunes. Their in- 
dustrious and frugal habits, and mild and simple manners, attracted 
regard, and they were treated here with great kindness. They cul- 
tivated a little tract of land, were permitted to hunt deer at all sea- 
sons, and aided in their own support by laboring as reapers and by 
manufacturing wooden implements. Although they tilled the fields, 
they kept no animals for labor. The young men drew their fuel and 
materials for fencing on the ground, with thongs of sinew, and turn- 
ed the earth with a spade. So deep was the feeling of their suffer- 
ings in their violent removal, that any allusion to their native country 
drew from them a flood of tears. The aged persons died broken 
hearted. In 1767, the remnant removed to Canada among their 
countrymen. The town then granted £7 to lay in stores and pay 
the passage of John Lebere to Quebec, and authorised the select- 
men to raise that sum by loan. 

The year 1756 was marked by increased exertions of the inhabit- 
ants to fill the ranks of the army destined to act against Crown Point. 
Our own citizens freely volunteered in the expedition, whose success, 
it was confidently expected, would terminate the war which pressed 
so heavily on the resources and population of the province. A com- 
pany of 43 men was raised under Capt. Aaron Rice of Rutland ; 
on his death in camp, he was succeeded in the command by Lieut. 
Jacob Hemmenway. Forty-four other soldiers were returned by oth- 
er officers in Col. Ruggles' regiment, in the service of the country. 
Some of these troops suffered in the reverses of the campaign. Dan- 
iel Stearns was made prisoner near Fort Edward ; Edward Hair, at 
the capitulation of Oswego : and Jonathan Child in the vicinity of 
Fort William Henry. They were detained in captivity at Montreal 



64 MILITARY SERVICES. [1757. 

until the exchange in 1758. Many died of epidemic diseases at 
Lake George. 

Regimental head quarters were established at Worcester, which 
was appointed the rendezvous of troops to be mustered into service. 
The town was often filled with military detachments waiting orders 
to march, and the neighboring hills whitened with tents. 

A depot of munitions of war was formed for the armament of 
the levies as they advanced towards the scene of operations on the 
western frontiers. A report of the commissary shows a total of 403 
arms complete, 7 boxes of guns, 403 bayonets, 212 blankets, 151 
bandoliers, SO cartouch boxes, 1 cask of powder. 

Earl Loudon, successor of Gen. Shirley, in expectation of an at- 
tack from the enemy, ordered Col. Chandler, on the 30th of Sep- 
tember, to detach one hundred and fifty men for the reenforcement of 
his army. The militia companies of the town, with the former lev- 
ies from the regiment, promptly marched under James Putnam, the 
distinguished counsellor, bearing the military rank of Major. Af- 
ter waiting at Westfield for the troops of Hampshire, finding the ne- 
cessity for their services had passed, the forces of Worcester county, 
amounting to 300, were dismissed and returned. 

Intelligence of the siege of Fort William Henry, Aug. 4, 1757, 
induced the Governor to order the colonels of all the regiments to 
hold each man in readiness to march at a moment's warning. 

The following report, July 20, 1757, shows the preparation of Wor- 
cester, then included in the first regiment under the command of 
Col. John Chandler, jr. 

' Agreeably to an order of the honorable, his majesty's council, of 
the fifth of July last, requiring me to take effectual care that every 
person, both upon the alarm and train band lists, within my regiment, 
and the several town stocks in said regiment, be furnished with arms 
and ammunition according to Jaw, if not already provided : immedi- 
ately on the receipt of said order, I forthwith sent out my warrant 
requiring a strict view into the state of the respective companies and 
town stocks in my regiment, and returns have since been made to 
me that they are well equipt. 

' And agreeably to an order of the honorable, his majesty's coun- 
cil, of the Gth of June last, 1 requiring me, in case of an alarm being 
made, or notice given of the approach of an enemy by sea, to cause 

1 A French fleet having appeared off the coast, alarm and dismay spread through the 
country, in the apprehension of an invasion of New England. These orders were is- 
sued to meet the danger from this source. 



1757.] MILITARY SERVICES. 05 

my regiment to appear complete in arms, with ammunition accor- 
ding to law, and each man to be furnished with seven days provision 
of meat. I also sent out my warrant, requiring the several compa- 
nies, in such case, with the utmost expedition to march to Boston, 
and further to act agreeably to such orders as they shall receive. 
Agreeably to the order aforesaid, return has been made from the 
respective companies that they are each ready to march at an hour's 
warning. John Chandler, jr. Colonel.' 

Fort William Henry having surrendered, and advices having been 
received of the advance of the French to attack Gen. Webb, orders 
were issued to Col. Chandler ' to march the regiment of militia 
under his command into the extreme parts of the province on the 
western frontier, there to receive such further orders as shall be ne- 
cessary for the aid and assistance of his majesty's troops.' The 
country, which had been resting on its arms during the whole sum- 
mer, roused itself at the summons. The whole militia of the town 
marched on the 10th of August. One company mustered 56 men, 
with Col. Chandler himself at the head ; James Goodwin, was Cap- 
tain, Noah Jones, Lieut. David Bancroft, Ensign, and JNahum Wil- 
lard, Surgeon. Another company, 54 strong, was under Major 
Gardner Chandler, with Captain John Curtis, Lieut. Luke Brown, 
and Ens. Asa Flagg. They reached Sheffield, 105 miles distant as 
the roads then were, where they were met by orders from Gen. Webb, 
and intelligence that the enemy remained contented with his acquisi- 
tion. On the 8th of August they were disbanded, except a few men 
detached to Stockbridge. 

Eight of our men, in the troop of cavalry under Lieut. Jonathan 
Newhall of Leicester, reached the army at Fort Edward. Ten 
soldiers, regularly enlisted, served during the campaign. 

On the 17th of September, Gen. Amherst halted for a day here, 
on his march westward, with an army of 4500 men. Capt. Samuel 
Clark Paine commanded a company, principally raised in Worces- 
ter, in this body, and served during the winter. There were nine 
soldiers under Gen. Abercrombie in the unfortunate attack on Ticon- 
deroga. 

This company continued in service in the splendid campaign of 
Gen. Amherst, during 1759. Daniel Mc Farland was Lieutenant, 
and the late Samuel Ward of Lancaster, Ensign. Twenty-three 
non-commissioned officers and privates are returned from Worces- 
ter as doing duty in its ranks. Fourteen men more were in other 
9 



66 MILITARY SERVICES. [1760. 

companies of Gen. Ruggles' regiment. William Crawford officia- 
ted as Chaplain of Col. Abijah Willard's regiment. Benjamin Stow- 
ell was Lieutenant of Capt. Johnson's company. Many returned 
laboring under the diseases contracted by residence in the region of 
fever and ague. 

Capt. Paine having died in December, Lieut. Daniel McFarland 
was elected to the command of the company, in Feb. 1760. Wil- 
liam Ward is returned as Lieut. Samuel Ward, the Ensign, was 
promoted to be Adjutant of Col. Willard's regiment. William 
Crawford, the former Chaplain, became Surgeon in Gen. Ruggles' 
regiment. Thomas Cowden served as Lieutenant in Capt. JefFerds 
company, and twelve privates are borne on the rolls, as from Wor- 
cester. 

In 1761, Thomas Cowden was commissioned as Captain : twen- 
ty-five men from Worcester were in the army from May to Novem- 
ber, principally under his command. He remained in service till 
the end of the following year. Nine soldiers only appear to have 
enlisted with him. 

The peace of 1763 terminated exertions, which, in reference to 
the population and resources of the province, may well be deemed 
extraordinary. The whole number of men furnished by this town 
alone, during the French wars for defence and conquest, as derived 
from the well authenticated rolls still preserved, exceeded 450, as 
appears from the following summary. 

1748, 69. 1758, 20. 

1754, 13. 1759, 43. 

1755, 34. 1760, 17. 

1756, 93. 1761, 26. 

1757, .... 130. 1762, 8 453 men. 

In these numbers are not included those who enlisted into the 
regular army : nor, except in 1748 and 1757, the occasional service 
of the militia companies. It is probable that many names have 
been omitted in the examination of voluminous papers in the ar- 
chives of the state, and as the series is not perfect, many may have 
been lost. 

Worcester furnished to the provincial service during this period, 
1 colonel, 1 lieutenant colonel, 2 majors, 6 captains, 8 lieutenants, 
7 ensigns, 2? Serjeants, 2 surgeons, a chaplain, and an adjutant. 

The same patriotic spirit, which was the moving spring of efforts 
so considerable, pervaded the province. ' Nearly one third of the 
effective men,' says Minot, ' were in military service in some mode 



1764.] PROPOSED DIVISION OF THE COUNTY. 67 

or other, and all this zeal was manifested after the most depressing 
disappointments, and a burden of taxes which is said to have been 
so o-reat in the capital, as to equal two thirds of the income of the 
real estate.' 

The advantages from the sessions of courts, the erection of build- 
ings, and the residence of public officers, having become apparent 
in the prosperity of Worcester, attempts were made to transfer these 
benefits to the towns who had once declined their enjoyment. 

In 1764, Timothy Paine, James Putnam, John Chandler, were a 
committee to give reasons to the General Court, why the petition of 
Abel Lawrence and others, praying for a new county from the 
northern part of Worcester and the western part of Middlesex, 
should not be granted. 

This project was urged during several sessions of the Legislature. 
Remonstrances were presented from towns in both counties against 
the dismemberment. After orders of notice had been issued, and 
several committees had taken the expediency of division into con- 
sideration, the petitioners abandoned their object, in 1766 

Lancaster having petitioned for the sessions of some of the courts 
there, it was voted, 'that by removing any of them from the town of 
Worcester, the shire of the county, to Lancaster, three fourths of 
the inhabitants of the county, will be obliged to travel farther than 
they now do.' Mr. Joshua Bigelow, then representative, was instruc- 
ted to use his utmost endeavor to prevent the removal, and procure 
the establishment here of another term of the Superior Court. In 
the former he was successful. 



CHAPTER VI. 

1765 to 1775. American Revolution. Instructions, 1766, 1767. Resolutions, 1768. 
Covenant, 1768. Tea. Votes, 1773. Committee of Correspondence, 1773. Polit- 
ical Society. Peter Oliver. Address of Grand Jury, 1774. Report on grievances, 
1774. Instructions. Protest of royalists. Town meeting. Record expunged. 
Non-consumption covenant and oath. Mandamus counsellors. Assembly of the 
people. Alarm. Minute men. Courts stopped. County Convention. Sheriff 
Chandler. William Campbell. Instructions. Blacksmith's Convention. Depot of 
military stores. 

We have now reached the period of deepest interest in our histo- 
ry. The middle of the century had scarcely past, before the shad- 



6S AMERICAN REVOLUTION. [1765. 

ows of oppression began to darken the land, and the first tremulous 
motions of the revolution, which finally upheaved the colonial gov- 
ernment, were felt. The collision of popular privilege with royal 
prerogative, maintained during successive years by the representa- 
tives, had prepared the people for the investigation of ihe principles 
on which their connection with the mother country rested, and wa- 
ked their vigilance for the protection of chartered and inherited 
rights. The long series of wars we have reviewed, were useful 
schools, diffusing military spirit, and imparting knowledge of strength, 
and skill and confidence for repulsing encroachments. 

When the appeal to arms approached, many of the inhabitants of 
Worcester most distinguished for talents, influence, and honors, ad- 
hered with constancy to the king. In the hostility of party and the 
struggles of warfare, they were driven into exile and loaded with 
reproach. At this distance of time, when the bitterness of the con- 
troversy has long subsided, while we do justice to their memories, a 
warmer glow of gratitude springs in our hearts for the patriots whose 
prophetic forecast saw, beyond the dangers and sufferings of the con- 
test, the prosperity and happiness that brighten over our republican 
institutions. The royalists here, were those who had sustained with 
equal fidelity and ability, the highest civil and military offices, en. 
joyed the confidence of their fellow citizens, and given testimony 
of their love of country by earnest exertions in its service. 

Standing as they did, and knowing how scanty were the resour- 
ces for resistance, they might well entertain doubts whether the pe- 
riod had arrived, when it was possible to secure independence, and 
refuse to hazard all that was dear on the uncertain issue of a war 
with the most formidable nation of Europe. Educated with senti- 
ments of veneration for the sovereign to whom they had sworn feal- 
ty, indebted to his bounty for the honors and wealth they possessed, 
loyalty and gratitude alike influenced them to resist acts, which, to 
them, seemed treasonable and rebellious. However much they err- 
ed in judgment and feeling, we may respect the sincerity of mo- 
tives, attested by the sacrifice of property, the loss of home, and all 
the miseries of confiscation and exile. Some among them, it is 
known, were ardently attached to the principles of liberty : but, in 
their view, the opposition to the measures of government was pre- 
mature in its advanee to extremities. The times did not admit of a 
middle course. The crisis had indeed arrived, although they mis- 
understood the progress of events, and became involved in indiscrim- 
inate denunciation. 



1765.] INSTRUCTIONS. 69 

It is not for the purpose of wantonly drawing from oblivion those, 
whose descendants have been among our worthiest citizens, that the 
names of the royalists are mentioned in the following narrative. To 
understand the transactions, it is necessary to know the persons 
who were engaged in them, and to whom they applied. By chang- 
ing even slight features, the resemblance of the picture would be des- 
troyed. The annals would be worthless, which impaired confidence 
by the suppression of truth, even though unpleasant and unwelcome. 
There is no discretion entrusted to the historian to select among the 
events of the past. It is his task to relate with fidelity the incidents 
of the times he reviews, that he may place loyalty and patriotism in 
their just contrast. 

The earliest expression of opinion, on the records of the town, 
in relation to revolutionary measures, was on the 21st of October, 
1765, when Capt. Ephraim Doolittle, the representative, was in- 
structed to join in no measure countenancing the stamp act. 

Soon after the destruction of the property of Gov. Hutchinson 
and other officers of the crown, in August 1765, at the Superior 
Court, the Grand Jury expressed to the Chief Justice, in strong 
terms, the disapprobation of the people of the riotous proceedings 
in Boston. 

In May following, the town refused to give instructions respect- 
ing restitution to those who had suffered from the disgraceful vio- 
lence. 

The instructions to the representative 1 19th of May, 1766, are, 
generally, marked by singular good sense and moderation. 

' 1. That you use the whole of your influence and endeavor, that 
no person holding any fee or military office whatsoever, especially 
Judges of the Superior Court, Judges of the Probate, Registers of 
Probate, Secretary, Clerk of either of the Courts, Sheriffs, or Prov- 
ince Treasurer, be chosen into his majesty's Council of this prov- 
ince, and that you attend at the election of Counsellors, and give 
your vote accordingly. 

' 2. That you endeavor, that, for the future, the General Court of 
this province be held in an open manner, that such as are so minded 
and behave agreeable to good order, may see and hear how affairs are 
conducted in said court, and if the desired end be obtained, that a 

i Ephraim Doolittle. The instructions were reported by Jonathan Stone, Benjamin 
Flagg, and Nathan Baldwin. 



70 INSTRUCTIONS. [1766. 

proper and convenient house, both for the court and spectators, be 
forthwith prepared. 

' 3. That you endeavor, that the present fee table of this province 
be made null and void, and that a new fee table be made and estab- 
lished instead thereof, which shall be more equal and impartial ; not 
giving to any officer in the government, except the Governor, more 
nor less than you would be willing to do the same service for your- 
self; and that you observe this rule in granting pay for contingencies 
and occasional services. 

' 4. That you endeavor, that there be no monopoly of public offices 
in this government, and that one man be not invested with more 
than one office at one time, except it be compatible with the true in- 
terests of the people in general. 

'5. That you endeavor, that there be a law made, that when- 
ever any representative shall receive any office or commission 
from the Governor, he shall be dismissed the house, and not be al- 
lowed to act as a member thereof, without he should be chosen anew 
by his constituents ; and that the said constituents be forthwith ser- 
ved with a new precept to call a meeting for the choice of some meet 
and suitable person to represent them in the Great and General 
Court. 

' 6. That you endeavor, the excise act be repealed, and that there 
be no excise laid upon any commodities of trade, but that all lawful 
trade be encouraged, and free of duty or excise ; and that all the 
public charge be paid directly by a rate, except such money as shall 
be raised by fines for the breach of the good, wholesome laws of this 
province. 

' 7. That the law for keeping of Latin grammar schools be re- 
pealed, and that we be not obliged to keep more than one grammar 
school in a county, and that to be at the county charge, and that 
each town be obliged by law to keep good and sufficient schools for 
the education of their youth in the art of reading, writing and arith- 
metic, and that the schoolmasters for the said purpose shall be such 
as shall be approved of by the selectmen of each respective town. 

' 8. That you use your utmost endeavor, that a law be made to 
prevent bribery and corruption in the several towns in this province 
in the choice of representatives. 

' 9. That you give diligent attendance at every session of the Gen- 
eral Court of this province this present year, and adhere to these 
our instructions, and the spirit of them, as you regard our friendship 
and would avoid our just resentment.' 



1767.] INSTRUCTIONS. 71 

The instructions, reported by Ephraim Doolittle, Nathan Baldwin, 
and Jonathan Stone, on the 18th of May, 17G7, breathe a similar 
spirit, and are, in many respects, applicable to the present times. 



' To Mr. Joshua Bigelow : Sir : As we have devolved upon you 
the important trust of representing us, at the Great and General 
Court, the year ensuing, we, your constituents, therefore, think it 
our duty and interest to give you the following instructions relative 
to some of your conduct in said trust. 

' 1. That you use your influence to maintain and continue that 
harmony and good will between Great. Britian and this province 
[which] may be most conducive to the prosperity of each, by a steady 
and firm attachment to English liberty and the charter rights of this 
province, and [that] you willingly suffer no invasions, either through 
pretext of precedency, or any other way whatsoever : and if you 
find any encroachments on our charter rights, that you use your 
utmost ability to obtain constitutional redress. 

'2. That you use your influence to obtain a law to put an end to 
that unchristian and impolitic practice of making slaves of the human 
species in this province ; and that you give your vote for none to 
serve in his majesty's Council, who, you may have reason to think, 
will use their influence against such a law, or that sustain any office 
incompatible with such trust : and in such choice, prefer such gen- 
tlemen, and such only, who have distinguished themselves in the de- 
fence of our liberty. 

' 3. That you use your influence that the fee table of this province 
be established more agreeable to the rules of justice. Set not to 
the sheriff, as fees, double as much pay as the service may be done 
for, and in general is by the deputy sheriffs ; neither oblige jurymen, 
&.c. to do service at the expense of their own private estates, or be 
subjected to large fines or penalties ; but subject all, or none at all, 
by penalties, and appoint so much fees and no more, as may be 
agreeable to each service ; and that you observe this rule, in grant- 
ing pay for occasional and contingent charges. 

' 4. That you use your endeavor to relieve the people of this prov- 
ince, from the great burden of supporting so many Latin grammar 
schools, whereby they are prevented from attaining such a degree of 
English learning as is necessary to retain the freedom of any state. 

' 5. That you make diligent inquiry into the cause of such general 
neglect of the Militia of this province, and endeavor a redress of 



'~ RESOLUTIONS. [1768. 

such grievance ; without which, we apprehend, in time, we may be 
made an easy prey of, by the enemies of Great Britain. 

'6. Take special care of the liberty of the press. 

' And, Sir, we hope and trust, that in all matters that may come 
before you, you will have a single eye to the public good, have a 
watchful eye over those who are seeking the ruin of this province, 
and endeavor to make this province reciprocally happy with our 
mother country.' 

The indignation of the people on the promulgation of the act of 
Parliament imposing duties on paper, tea, and other articles impor- 
ted into the colonies, was first manifested in Boston. In October, 
1767, a meeting was held there, and resolutions to encourage domes- 
tic manufactures and refrain from purchasing the taxed articles, were 
passed and transmitted to the selectmen of every town. 

At the next session of the Legislature, resolves of similar import 
were adopted, which are recited in the papers copied below. 

On the 14th of March, 1768, a town meeting was held in Wor- 
cester, when the subject was presented. The following extract from 
the record exhibits the proceedings of the inhabitants. 

' The article in the warrant being read relative to promoting in- 
dustry and economy, Mr. Joshua Bigelow, our representative, mo- 
ved to the town, that before they came to a vote he might read the 
vote of the hon. House of Representatives of this province, passed 
the 26th of Feb. last, relative to the promoting industry, economy 
and good morals and for the discountenancing the use of foreign su- 
perfluities, and to encourage the manufactures of this province ; 
which was granted him: it was also moved and seconded, that the 
reasons given by the Hon. Timothy Ruggles, the representative of 
Hardwick, on his dissenting answer to the vote aforesaid, might be 
read also : * which accordingly was done, and the question w°as put 

J Brigadier Ruggles alone opposed the passage of these resolutions. His reasons for 
d.ssentmg were offered in writing, but it was voted that the? should not be entered on 
the journal. His objections to the encouragement of manufactures were these : 

1. Because in all countries manufactures are set up at the expense of husbandry or 
other general employment of the people, and if they have not peculiar advantages over 
husbandry, they will by discouraging the latter, have an injurious effect. 

2. That manufactures here must encounter insurmountable obstacles from the thin 
populahon and high price of labor: and would be detrimental, by taking hands away 
from agriculture and the fisheries. 

Other objections were deduced from the colonial relation of the province and the 
mother country, and the injury which might result to the interests of England. 



1768.] COVENANT. 73 

whether the town would buy any British manufactures more than 
they could pay for, and it passed in the affirmative.' 1 

The sentiments of the inhabitants are more easily deduced from 
subsequent events, than understood from the concluding expressions 
of the record. The town clerk, a gentleman of strong royalist at- 
tachments, was not probably desirous of correcting any absurdity in 
the motions of his political adversaries. 

Soon after this meeting, the patriotic party procured the subscrip- 
tions of many of the inhabitants to the following paper. 

' Whereas the honorable House of Representatives of this prov- 
ince, on the 2Cth day of February last, did declare, that the happiness 
and well being of civil communities depend upon industry, econ- 
omy, and good morals, and taking into serious consideration the 
great decay of trade, the scarcity of money, the heavy debt contrac- 
ted in the late war, which still remains on the people, and the great 
difficulties to which they are by these means reduced, did resolve, to 
use their utmost, endeavors, and enforce their endeavors by example, 
in suppressing extravagance, idleness, and vice, and promoting indus- 
try, economy, and good morals : and in order to prevent the unneces- 
sary exportation of money, of which the province hath, of late, been 
drained, did further resolve, that they would, by all prudent means, 
endeavor to discountenance the use of foreign superfluities, and en- 
courage the manufactures of this province ; and whereas, the Par- 
liament of Great Britain has passed an act imposing duties on sun- 
dry articles for the purpose of raising a revenue on America, which 
is unconstitutional, and an infringement of our just rights and privi- 
leges ; and the merchants of this province have generally come into 
an agreement not to import goods from Great Britain, a few articles 
excepted, till that act is repealed ; which in our opinion is a lawful 
and prudent measure : therefore, we the subscribers, do solemnly 
promise and engage, each with the other, to give all possible encour- 
agement to our own manufactures : to avoid paying the tax imposed 
by said act, by not buying any European commodity, but what is ab- 
solutely necessary ; that we will not, at funerals, use any gloves, ex- 

1 One of the earliest woollen manufactories of Massachusetts is thus noticed in the Bos- 
ton Evening- Post, October 10, 1768. 

'We hear from Brookfield, that Mr. Joshua Upham of that town, a gentleman in the 
law, and his two brothers, with a number of other gentlemen, have lately erected a 
building 50 feet in length and two stones high, for a manufactory house, and are collect- 
ing tradesmen of several sorts for the woollen manufactory, and they propose to keep 
a large number of looms constantly at work.' 

10 



74 TEA. [1768. 

cept those made here, or purchase any article of mourning, on such 
occasion, but what shall be absolutely necessary ; and we consent to 
abandon the use, so far as may he, not only of all the articles men- 
tioned in the Boston resolves, but of all foreign teas, which are 
clearly superfluous, our own fields abounding in herbs more healthful, 
and which we doubt not, may, by use, be found agreeable : we fur- 
ther promise and engage, that we will not purchase any goods of any 
persons, who preferring their own interest to that of the public, shall 
import merchandize from Great Britain, until a general importation 
takes place ; or of any trader who purchases his goods of such im- 
porter : and that we will hold no intercourse, or connexion, or cor- 
respondence, with any person who shall purchase goods of such im- 
porter or retailer ; and we will hold him dishonored, an enemy to 
the liberties of his country and infamous, who shall break this aoree- 
ment.' 

The execution of resolutions against tea, required the aid of those 
to whose care the fragrant herb was entrusted in the household. A fe- 
male convention assembled in Boston, and agreed to discontinue the 
use of the taxed leaf and substitute a native shrub, 1 an inhabitant of 
our meadows. In imitation of this example, a meeting was held here 
by the patriotic ladies, who cordially concurred with the good resolu- 
tions of their sisters of the metropolis. The royalists, who loved 
their tea and their king, and were equally averse to the desertion 
of the social urn or the sovereign, had influence enough to convene 
another assembly, and procure the reconsideration of its approbation 
of the American plant, and a renewal of allegiance to the exotic of 
India. 

A paragraph in the Boston Evening Post, alludes to the doings of 
the fair partizans. 

'Worcester, Nov. 11, 17G8. We hear that the ladies have dis- 
covered the most malignant quality in the Labrador tea, which, by 
vote of the daughters of liberty, within the metropolis, was substi- 
tuted, to be used in the room of the Indian shrub, called Bohea : 
that they find it to be of so debilitating a quality, and that it pro- 
duces such a total frigidity in their warmest friends of the other 
sex, that at a later convention, to deliberate on matters of the great- 
est consequence, it was agreed, by a majority greater than that of 
92 to 17, 2 to rescind their former vote in favor of the detested plant, 

1 Ledum Palustre, Labrador Tea. 
2 Alluding to the vote on the question of rescinding- the resolutions of the House of 
Representatives. 



1773.] RESOLUTIONS. 75 

as being clearly unconstitutional, and tending directly to rob us of 
our dearest privileges and deprive us of our most sacred and invalu- 
able rights.' 

As the nonconsumption agreement prevented the sale by the mer- 
chants of the obnoxious article, the gardens and fields were laid 
under contributions to supply the table urn. The cup was filled 
with odoriferous infusions of Mint and Sage, and those who ven- 
tured to acknowledge the abstract right of taxation, by the use of 
tea, indulged in the luxury, as if they were committing crime, with 
the utmost secresy, drawing bolt and bar, and closing every crevice 
which might betray the fragrance of the proscribed beverage. 

From this period to 1773, no doings of the inhabitants in their 
corporate capacity, mark the progress of the spirit of independence. 
The influence of the royalists prevented public expression of the 
high toned patriotism radiated from the metropolis to every village, 
and growing day by day more fervid and intense. 

A petition of Otlmiel Taylor and forty others, called the attention 
of the town, at the annual meeting in March, 1773, to the grievan- 
ces under which the province labored. After debate, the celebra- 
ted Boston Pamphlet was read. A committee was appointed 2 to 
consider its contents, who presented an elaborate report at the ad- 
journment in May following. Going back to the foundation of civil 
society, they deduce the principles, that mankind are by nature free, 
and that the end and design of forming the social compact was, that 
each member of the state might enjoy liberty and property, and the 
unrestrained exercise of civil and religious rights. Tracing the his- 
tory of the pilgrims, they derive illustrations of the sacredness of 
the charter, plighted by royal faith. Appealing to the long series 
of services rendered by the province as testimonials of fidelity, they 
declare, ' the fond affection that ever has subsisted in our hearts for 
Great Britain and its sovereign, has ever induced us, to esteem it 
above any other country, and as fond children speak of a father's 
house we have ever called it our home, and always [have been ready 
to] rejoice, when they rejoiced, to weep when they have wept, and 
whenever required, to bleed when they have bled ; and in return, we 
are sorry to say, we have had our harbors filled with ships of war, in 
a hostile manner, and troops posted in our metropolis, in a time of 
profound peace : not only posted [in a manner] greatly insulting, but 
actually slaughtering the inhabitants : cannon levelled against our 

1 William Young, David Bancroft, Samuel Curtis, Timothy Bigelow, Stephen Salis- 
bury. 



76 POLITICAL SOCIETY. [1773. 

senate house, the fortress or key of the province taken from us : and 
as an addition to our distress, the commander in chief of the province 
[has declared] he had not power to control the troops, &c. Nev- 
ertheless we are ready and willing to stand forth in defence of the 
king of Great Britain, his crown and dignity, and our noble con- 
stitution, and, when called to it, risk our lives; and in that day let 
him that hath no sword, sell his garment and buy one.' 

It was recommended ' that there be a committee of correspon- 
dence chosen, to correspond with the committees of correspondence 
in the other towns in this province, to give the earliest intelligence 
to the inhabitants of this town, of any designs that they shall discov- 
er, at any time, against our natural and constitutional rights.' 

The recommendations of the report were adopted, and William 
Young, Timothy Bigelow, and John Smith, were elected a commit- 
tee of correspondence. 

The spirit of discontent, repressed in public, was actively working 
in the minds of men, and the doctrine of resistance, branded by one 
party as the theory of treason, preparing the way for events the 
brightest of history. In the peculiar situation of the town, an efficient 
and firm union among the friends of freedom was necessary. On the 
27th of December, 1773, the leading whigs assembled, and formed a 
Society, which became a powerful instrument of revolutionary ac- 
tion, directing the proceedings of the town, and extending a control- 
lino- influence to some of its neighbors. Its organization and doings, 
illustrative of the feeling of the times and the mode of political oper- 
ation, are worthy of extended notice. 

The constitution and rules of proceeding, reported by Nathan 
Baldwin, Samuel Curtis and Timothy Bigelow, exhibit the purposes 
of the association. The former recites, ' that at the then present time 
the good people of the county, and with respect to some particular 
circumstances, the town of Worcester especially, labor under many 
impositions and burdens grievous to be borne, which, it is appre- 
hended, could never have been imposed upon us had we been united 
and opposed the machinations of some designing persons in this 
province, who are grasping at power and the property of their neigh- 
bors : for preventing these evils and better securing liberty and prop- 
erty, and counteracting the designs of enemies, the associates incor- 
porate themselves into a society, by the name of The American Polit- 
ical Society, to meet at some public house, at least once in every oth- 
er month, to advise with each other on proper methods to be pur- 
sued respecting common rights and liberties, civil and religious.' 



1773.] POLITICAL SOCIETY. 77 

The members covenanted, that no discourse or transaction in any of 
the meetings should be communicated to any person without common 
consent ; that they would avoid all lawsuits as much as possible, and 
particularly with each other: and if differences should arise between 
members, which they were unable to adjust, they should be referred to 
the determination of the society ; that each would, as he had opportu- 
nity, promote the interest of the other, in all honest ways, within his 
power, without injury to himself; and that each member would give 
information in the meetings of any infringement of the common rights 
of mankind which might come to his knowledge. Penalties were 
established for absence, provision made for regular monthly meet- 
ings, the elections, admissions, and order of debate, usual in sim- 
ilar associations. It is expressed, ' that each particular member, 
reposing special trust and confidence in every other member of the 
society, looks upon himself bound, and does bind himself, by the ties 
of honor, virtue, truth, sincerity, and every appellation dear to him in 
this life, faithfully and truly to keep and perform its articles.' Thir- 
ty one persons were original subscribers, and thirty two others were, 
from time to time, admitted, making the whole number of members 
during the two years of its existence sixty three. 

The objects of the society, as expressed in its constitution, were 
extensive. The associates, practically, limited their views to the cir- 
cle of their own corporation, and instead of proceeding in the task 
of reforming the world, confined their exertions to secure the rio-hts 
of that portion of mankind in their own neighborhood. They erect- 
ed themselves into a supreme authority, not only assuming advisory 
superintendence^of local concerns, but claiming to direct in abso- 
lute terms. Sessions were held previous to the meetings of the in- 
habitants, and votes passed, afterwards confirmed by the town. To 
show how important was their agency, it will be necessary to antici- 
pate the regular progress of the narrative, to examine their records. 

The first debate, Feb. 4, 1774, was had on the impropriety of choos- 
ing any person to office, who was not an open and professed friend 
to constitutional liberty. Feb. 25, the business of the society was, 
to agree on a plan of proceedings for March meeting. In April, it 
was voted ' that the chairman of the committee of correspondence, be 
directed to send circular letters to the committees of correspondence in 
the several towns in the county, advising them that the votes for Coun- 
ty Treasurer had not been counted by the Court of Sessions of the 
Peace, as had been usual, and of the danger consequent thereon, that 
the whole people of the county may be on their guard against fraud 



78 CHIEF JUSTICE OLIVER. [1774. 

and deception.' A committee was appointed to prepare instructions 
for the representative to be chosen in May following. 

Among the boldest, of its acts, was its instruction to the Grand 
Jurors, to refuse being sworn if Judge Oliver was present at the 
Superior Court in April. 

The act of parliament for raising revenues, by taxation of the colo- 
nies, authorized appropriations from them, for the salaries of the judges 
of the Superior Court, rendering the judicial officers dependants 
of the crown. The Governor had refused his assent to legislative 
grants for their support, and the Representatives remonstrated with 
spirit, against the invasion of charter rights. After ineffectual ne- 
gociations with Mr. Hutchinson, the inflexible assertor of royal pre- 
rogative, at the termination of the first session of 1773, it was resol- 
ved ' that any of the judges, who, while they hold their offices during 
pleasure, shall accept support from the crown, independent of the 
grants of the General Court, will discover, that he is an enemy to the 
constitution, and has it in his heart to promote the establishment of 
arbitrary government.' In Feb. 1774, four of the judges, Trowbridge, 
Hutchinson, Ropes, and Gushing, on the appeal being made by the 
Assembly, replied that they had received no part of the allowance* 
from the king ; which was deemed satisfactory. Chief Justice Oli- 
ver alone, dared to brave popular sentiment, and answered that he 
had accepted his Majesty's bounty, and could not refuse it in future, 
without royal permission. The concentrated weight of indignation 
fell upon him. The House immediately voted that he had rendered 
himself obnoxious to the people as an enemy of the constitution. A 
petition was presented for his removal, and articles of impeachment, 
for high crimes and misdemeanors exhibited, which the Governor re- 
fused to countenance. 

Such was the relation of Peter Oliver to the people, when the term 
of the Superior Court for the county of Worcester drew near. The 
political society, as guardians of popular rights, took the subject in- 
to consideration. After much treasonable debate, as the expression 
of opinions which would have endangered life, might be termed by 
those who could have claimed its forfeiture, the determination was 
expressed in the following vote, unanimously adopted, April 4. 

' This society will each one bear and pay their equal part of the 
fine and charges that may be laid on Messrs. Joshua Bigelow and 
Timothy Bigelow, for their refusal to be empanneled upon the Grand 
Jury at our next Superior Court of Assize, for the county of Wor- 
cester, if they shall be chosen into that office, and their refusal is 



1774.] GRAND JURY'S ADDRESS. 79 

founded upon the principle, that they cannot, consistently with good 
conscience and order, serve, if Peter Oliver, Esq. is present on the 
bench as chief justice, or judge of said court, before he is lawfully 
tried and acquitted from the high crimes and charges for which he 
now stands impeached by the honorable House of Representatives, 
and the major part of the grand jurors for the whole county, join 
them in refusing to serve for the reasons aforesaid.' 

So little apprehension was entertained of the concurrence of their 
fellows, or of the return of the two gentlemen named, that they were 
provided with a remonstrance for presentation to the court. The 
exact circumstances, modestly designated as contingent and condi- 
tional, were made certain by the influence and exertions of the socie- 
ty. Messrs. Joshua Bigelow and Timothy Bigelow were chosen, and 
the majority of the jurors did join with them, at the opening of the 
court in offering this paper, April 19, 1774. 

' To the honorable, his majesty's justices of the Superior Court of 
Judicature now sitting at Worcester, in and for said county. 

We, the subscribers, being returned by our respective towns to 
serve as jurors of inquest for this court, beg leave humbly to inform 
your honors, that it is agreeable to the sense of those we represent, 
that we should not empannel, or be sworn into this important office, 
provided Peter Oliver, Esq. sits as chief justice of this court ; and 
we would further add, that our own sentiments coincide perfectly 
with those of our constituents respecting this matter ; so, to what- 
ever inconvenience we expose ourselves, we are firmly resolved not 
to empannel, unless we are first assured that the above gentleman 
will not act as a judge in this court, ior the following reasons : 

1. Because the honorable House of Commons of this province, 
at their last session, among other things, resolved, that Peter Oliver, 
Esq. hath, by his conduct, rendered himself totally disqualified any 
longer to hold and act in the office of a justice of this court, and 
ought, forthwith, to be removed therefrom. 

2. Because the House of Commons, in their said session, did im- 
peach the said Peter Oliver, Esq. of high crimes and misdemeanors ; 
the particulars of which impeachment, we apprehend, are known to 
your honors, which will excuse us from reciting them at large ; to 
which impeachment the said Peter Oliver, Esq. hath not been yet 
brought to answer ; and therefore, we apprehend, that the veniri 
bearing test, Peter Oliver, Esq. is illegal. 

But, if we should be mistaken, nevertheless, we remonstrate and 



80 CHTEF JUSTICE OLIVER. [1774. 

protest, against the said Peter Oliver, Esq., acting as judge on any 
of the bills we may find at this session, unless he is constitutionally 
acquitted of said impeachment : because, we apprehend it would be 
highly injurious, to subject a fellow countryman to trial at a bar, 
where one of the judges is not only disqualified as aforesaid, but, by 
his own confession, stands convicted, in the minds of the people, of a 
crime more heinous, in all probability, than any that might come 
before him. These, with other reasons, that might be offered, we 
hope your honors will esteem sufficient to justify us for presenting 
the foregoing remonstrance.' 

Joshua Bigelow, John Fuller, William Henshaw, 

Thomas Robinson, John Tyler, Nathaniel Carriel, 

Phinehas Heywood, Daniel Clapp, Moses Livermore, 

Nathan Walker, Silas Bayley, Timothy Bigelow, 

Ephraim Doolittle, John Sherman, William Campbell. 

After consultation, this paper was received by the court, and pub- 
licly read by the clerk. One of the judges then informed the ju- 
rors, that it was altogether improbable that the Chief Justice would 
attend to take his seat i 1 and being assured that the sheriff had, as 

1 Judge Oliver, in a letter to Gov. Hutchinson, Way 15, 1771, published in Edes' Ga- 
zette, Sept. 18, 1775, expresses his anger at the conduct of his associates of the bench 
in strong terms. 

' As to the affair of the Grand Jury's libel at Worcester court, I did not know of their 
conduct until I saw it in the newspapers; and had any of my brethren been charged in 
so infamous a mariner, I would forever have quitted the bench, rather than have suffered 
such indignity to them to have passed unnoticed. How it is possible to let a brother 
judge, a friend, or even a brute, be treated in so ignominious a manner, I have no con- 
ception in my ideas of humanity. But so it is: and if the Supreme Court is content 
with such rudeness, inferior jurisdictions are to lie exculpated in suffering the common- 
wealth to be destroyed.' 

Oliver sought consolation under popular odium, from the sympathy of the representa- 
tive of the king, without communicating to his associates the indignation breathing in his 
letter. The existence of this document seems to have remained unknown to his judicial 
brethren, long after the publication. Judge Trowbridge, in a letter to the late Levi Lin- 
coln, Dec. 27, 1780, says, ' this letter was wrote \>y Chief Justice Oliver, as I suppose, to 
the governor, at the castle 5 and the court referred to, must be the Superior Court at 
Worcester, on the third Tuesday of September, 1773; for the chief justice was not at 
that court. 1 don't know that I ever saw what he calls the libel. I can't find it in Edes 
& Gill's Gazette printed that year, and therefore conclude it was published in the Spy, 
soon after the court. I hear Mr. Thomas lives in Worcester, and suppose he has those 
papers by him. If you would be kind enough to know of him, if he printed the account 
of the proceeding which, I suppose, the judge calls a libel, and favor me with a copy 
thereof, you will much oblige me. 

' I was at Judge Oliver's house, on May 15, 1774, (the day of the date of his letter) : 
but he never said a word to me about that matter, as I remember; which I think he 
might have done, before he wrote that letter to the governor.' 



1774.] POLITICAL SOCIETY. 81 

usual, been a number of miles out of town, in order to meet and 
escort him to his lodgings, and had returned without him, the jurors 
retired to determine what course to pursue. On considering the 
personal and public inconvenience resulting from their refusal to 
proceed to business, and finding no sacrifice of principle from com- 
pliance, they returned, were sworn, and received the charge. 

It is said to have been resolved by the Society, that they would 
rescue the jurors by force, if they should be committed for contempt, 
in presenting the chief justice to the court as a criminal. No writ- 
ten evidence of such purpose can be supposed to exist, and the re- 
moval of the difficulty, threatening interruption of the administration 
of justice, fortunately prevented more solemn testimony from being 
furnished. 

At the monthly meeting in June, it • , ,; • oted to sign a covenant, 
not to purchase any English goods, until the port of Boston was 
opened, and to discontinue intercourse with those declining to sub- 
scribe. A committee was appointed to prepare an instrument for 
this purpose, and obtain the signatures of the citizens, and to draft 
a similar agreement to be signed by the women. 

In August, it was voted, ' that Nathan Perry be moderator of our 
next town meeting, if he should be chosen : in case he should refuse, 
then Josiah Pierce shall preside.' 

The selectmen were directed, forthwith, to examine the town's 
stock of ammunition, and ascertain its quality and quantity. 

A committee was chosen to present to the inhabitants an obliga- 
tion to be completely armed, and to enforce its execution. 

Sept. 5. A committee was commissioned ' to inspect the tories 
going to and coming from Lancaster, or any Other way,' and it was 
subsequently entered of record, that it was contrary to the mind of 
the society that the tories should vote in town meeting. 

Oct. 3. The instructions to be reported at the next town meet- 
ing for the representatives in the Provincial Congress and General 
Court, were read, paragraph by paragraph, and accepted. 

A respectable merchant of the town was summoned before the as- 
sociation, to exhibit the certificate of an oath not to purchase En- 
glish goods, made by Artemas Ward, Esq. afterwards General in the 
Continental Army. The form not being considered satisfactory, a 
new oath was required and taken. 

We have traced the society far enough in the detail of its acts, to 
show the control it assumed and exercised over committees of cor- 
respondence, the grand jury, the town, its selectmen and citizens. 

11 



82 POLITICAL SOCIETY. [1774. 

Its career is interesting, as indicating the spring by whose impulse 
the complex machinery was moved, and as illustrative of the manner 
in which the government of opinion acted on the people, when the 
authority of the established officers tottered, the tribunals of justice 
were silent, and self constituted magistracies took the guardianship 
of the general welfare, and the lead in the municipal republics. 

It remains only to notice the dissolution of this remarkable body. 
Many of the members having been called into the military service 
of the country, much of its energy was lost. In 1776, it is stated, 
that unhappy differences had arisen and divisions grown up in the 
town. It was voted, to institute an enquiry into their origin, and en- 
deavor to suppress contention and reestablish harmony. Each mem- 
ber was desired to give intelligence of misbehavior, and answer 
truly and fully to any qu^tion, proposed by a committee, formed 
from both parties, to investigate the causes of difficulty. It was re- 
solved, ' that the society, in its corporate capacity, should pass no 
votes relative to the choice of town or public officers, or for the man- 
agement of town meetings, until a report was made and acted on.' 

The committee, composed of discordant materials, was unable to 
effect a compromise. The last meetings of the Society appear to 
have been passed in unavailing struggles to prolong its existence, in 
jealous rivalship of the committees of correspondence and safety, 
who had wrested away its power, and in stormy discussion of the 
deviations from the original principles of its constitution. It linger- 
ed until the first Monday of June, 1770, when, by mutual consent, it 
was suffered to expire, after a life of two years and a half. 

The struggle between the patriotism of the people and the loyal- 
ty of a minority, powerful in numbers, as well as in talents, w r ealth 
and influence, arrived to its crisis in this town early in 1774, and 
terminated in the total defeat of the adherents of the king. 

At the annual meeting, March 7, a committee 1 was formed, to 
take into consideration the acts of the British Parliament for raising 
revenue from the colonies, who soon presented the following report, 
matured by the Society, whose acts we have noticed, which was ac- 
cepted. 

' We, the freeholders and inhabitants of Worcester, think it our du- 
ty, at this important time, when affairs of the greatest consequence 
to ourselves and posterity are hastening to a crisis, after due consid- 
eration, to offer our sentiments on the many grievous impositions, 

1 William Young, Josiah Pierce, Timothy Bigelow. 



1774.] RESOLUTIONS. 83 

which are laid upon us : we would particularize some of the most 
intolerable ones, viz. 

' 1. Courts of Admiralty, wherein that most inestimable privilege, 
trial by jury, is destroyed : Boards of commissioners, with their nu- 
merous trains of dependents, which departments are generally filled 
with those who have proved themselves to be destitute of honor, 
honesty, or the common feelings of humanity ; those who are known 
to be the greatest enemies of the people and constitution of this 
country, even those who have murdered its inhabitants. For a re- 
cent instance of their consummate insolence, and of their barbarously 
harassing the subject from port to port, at the expense of time and 
money, and unjustly detaining property, we would mention the case 
of Capt. Walker, commander of the Brigantine Brothers. 

' 2. The Governor and Judges of the Superior Court, rendered in- 
dependent of the people of the province, for whose good only they 
were appointed, for which service they ought to depend on those 
they serve for pay : and, we are constrained to say, that to have 
these who are to determine and judge on our lives [and] property 
paid by a foreign state, immediately destroys that natural depend- 
ence which ought to subsist between a people and their officers, and 
[is,] of course, destructive of liberty. For which reason, we are of 
opinion, that we [are] not in the least bound in duty to submit to 
the ordering and determining of such officers as are not dependent 
on the grants of the people for their pay, and we have the satisfac- 
tion to hear that four of the superior judges, to their immortal hon- 
or, have refused the bribe offered them. 

' But, as we have had an opportunity heretofore, jointly, to express 
our minds respecting our many grievances, we, principally, shall 
confine our observations to the East India company's exporting tea3 
to America, subject to a duty laid thereon by the British Parliament, 
to be paid by us, not so much as mentioned for the regulation of 
trade, but for the sole purpose of raising a revenue : in consequence 
of which, we take it upon us to say, that it is an addition to the 
many proofs, that the British ministry are determined, if possi- 
ble, to enslave us : but, we rest assured, that however attached we 
may have been to that truly detestable herb, we can firmly resist the 
charm, and thereby convince our enemies in Great Britain and 
America, that however artful and alluring their snares, and gilded 
the bait, we have wisdom to foresee and virtue to resist. 

' Therefore, resolved ; that we will not buy, sell, use, or any way 
be concerned with India teas of any kind, dutied or undutied, 



84 RESOLUTIONS. [1774. 

imported from Great Britain, Holland, or elsewhere, until the un- 
righteous act imposing a duty thereon be repealed ; the former on 
account of the aforesaid duty ; the latter, because we still maintain 
such a regard for Great Britain as to be unwilling to promote the 
interests of a rival. 

' Resolved ; that we will break off all commercial intercourse with 
those persons, if any there should be, in this or any other place, 
who should act counter to these, our resolutions, thus publicly made 
known : that the tea consignees, and all those that have been aiding 
or assisting in introducing the East India company's tea among 
us, have justly merited our indignation and contempt, and must be 
considered, and treated by us, as enemies and traitors to their coun- 
try : that we contemptuously abhor and detest, all those, whether in 
Great Britain or America, that are not content with their own hon- 
est industry, but contrary to known principles of justice and equity, 
attempt to take the property of others in any wise without their 
consent. 

' Resolved : that we have an indisputable right, at this time, and at 
all times, boldly to assert our rights, and make known our grievan- 
ces ; being sensible that the freedom of speech and security of prop- 
erty always go together. None but the base tyrant and his wicked 
tools dread this liberty. Upright measures will always defend them- 
selves. It is not only our indubitable right, but a requisite duty, 
in this legal and public manner, to make known our grievances. 
Amongst the many benefits that will naturally result therefrom, [will 
be] we hope, that important one of undeceiving our gracious sove- 
reign, who from the wicked measures practised against us, we have 
just reason to suppose, has been artfully deluded ; in defence of 
whose sacred person, crown and dignity, together with our natural 
and constitutional rights, we are ready, at all times, boldly to risk 
our lives and fortunes.' 

Twenty-six of the royalists dissented from these resolutions, and 
their protest was entered of record, although rejected by the town. 

Mr. Joshua Bigelow was chosen representative, with the follow- 
ing instructions, 1 May 2U, 1774. 

' As English America is in a general alarm, in consequence of 

1 The committee who reported these instructions, were Josiah Pierce, Timothy Bige- 
low, Stephen Salisbury, Samuel Curtis, Edward Crafts, John Kelso, and Joshua Whit- 
ney. They had been prepared by Mr. Nathan Baldwin, the ablest writer of the party 
here, and matured by the political society 



1774.] INSTRUCTIONS. 85 

some late unconstitutional stretches of power, we are sensible this is 
the most difficult period that hath ever yet commenced since the first 
arrival of our ancestors into this then unexplored, uncultivated and 
inhospitable wilderness : and being fully sensible that the wisest 
head, uprightest heart, and the firmest resolution, are the necessary 
qualifications of the person fit and suitable to represent us in the 
Great and General Court of this Province the present year, [we] have 
honored you with our suffrages for that important office. Notwith- 
standing our confidence in your virtue and abilities, we think it ne- 
cessary to prescribe some certain rules for your conduct. And first : 
as there is a late act of the British Parliament, to be enforced in Amer- 
ica, with troops and ships of war [on] the first [day] of June, in order 
to stop the port and harbor of Boston, thereby depriving us of the 
winds and seas, which God and nature gave in common to mankind, 
we are induced to believe that [the ministers] of Great Britain, 
through misinformation, are led to a prostitution of that power which 
has heretofore made Europe tremble, to abridge us, their brethren in 
this province, of our natural and civil rights, notwithstanding, exclu- 
sive of our natural rights, we had all the privileges and immunities 
of Englishmen confirmed to us by our royal charter. And as we 
view this hostile manoeuvre of Great Britain as a blow aimed, through 
Boston, at the whole of American liberties, being emboldened through 
a consciousness of the justice of our cause, we, in the most solemn 
manner, direct you, that whatever measure Great Britain may take 
to distress us, you be not in the least intimidated, and thereby in- 
duced, that whatever requisitions, or ministerial mandate there may 
be, in order to subject us to any unconstitutional acts of the British 
parliament, to comply therewith. But to the utmost of your power, 
resist the most distant approaches of slavery. But more particular- 
ly, should the people of this province, through their representatives, 
be required to compensate the East India company for the loss of 
their tea, we hereby lay the strictest injunction on you not to com- 
ply therewith. As the destruction of the tea was not a public act, 
we cannot see the justice of a public demand. As the civil law is 
open to punish the offenders, we rather think, instead of an equitable 
compensation, it would be the means of encouraging riots and rob- 
beries, and, of consequence, render the courts of justice of no use. 

' We also earnestly require that a strict union of the colonies be 
one of the first objects in your view, and that you carefully and im- 
mediately pursue every legal measure that may tend thereto ; viz. 
that committees of correspondence be kept up between the several 



86 INSTRUCTIONS. [1774. 

houses of assembly through the colonies ; and that you by no means 
fail to use your utmost endeavors, that there be a general Congress 
formed of deputies from the same : that so we may unite in some 
safe and sure plan, to secure and defend the American liberties, at 
this important crisis of affairs. 

' Also we direct you, as soon as may be, to endeavor that Peter 
Oliver, Esq. be brought to answer to the impeachment against him, 
preferred by the Representatives of this province, in the name of 
the whole people. 

' There are a number of other matters respecting the internal poli- 
cy of this province, that, in our opinion, at this season, require the 
attention of the legislator : but, at a time like this, when Britain in 
return for the blood we have, on every needful occasion, so freely 
shed in her cause, has reduced thousands, through a wanton exer- 
cise of power, in our metropolis, to the most [distressing] circumstan- 
ces, which, at first view, is sufficient to excite in the human breast 
every tender and compassionate feeling, [this] is enough to engross 
your whole attention. Should other matters come under your con- 
sideration in the course of the present year, relative to the common 
and ordinary exigencies of government, we make not the least doubt, 
you will, on your part, make the peace and prosperity of the whole 
province, your ultimate aim and end, and by that means, honor 
yourself and us, your constituents, in the choice we have made.' 

Language so strong and decided, could not but be offensive to the 
royalists. The acceptance was strenuously opposed ; Col. Putnam, 
the distinguished counsellor, exerting the whole force of his eloquence 
to prevent the cooperation of the town in acts of rebellion, but with- 
out success. Thus defeated, measures were taken to procure the 
reconsideration of the votes. A petition, signed by 43 freeholders, 
was presented to the selectmen, requesting them to issue their war- 
rant for a meeting, in the expectation, by concentrating the whole 
strength of the opposition, that the early efforts of freedom could be 
crushed. 

A meeting, called in conformity with the prayer of the petition, 
which is recited at length in the warrant of the selectmen, was 
held on the 20th of June. After long and violent debate, the whigs 
prevailed, and it was voted not to act, in any manner, on any of the 
matters contained in the petition. Nothing remained to the de- 
feated party but the right of protesting. A spirited and most loyal 
paper was offered and refused. The Town Clerk, influenced more 



1774.] ROYALIST PROTEST. 87 

by feeling than prudence, entered a copy on the records, afterwards 
sent to Boston for publication. This production is one of the boldest 
and most indignant remonstrances of the friends of royal govern- 
ment among the productions of the time. It is inserted in the Bos- 
ton Gazette, printed on the 4th of July, 1774. The entry on the 
record was afterwards entirely obliterated. 

' At a meeting of the inhabitants of the town of Worcester, held 
there on the '20th day of June, A. D. 1774, pursuant to an applica- 
tion made to the selectmen by 43 voters and freeholders of the same 
town, dated the 20th day of May last, therein, among other things, 
declaring their just apprehensions of the fatal consequences that 
may follow the many riotous and seditious actions that have of late 
times been done and perpetrated in divers places within this prov- 
ince : the votes and proceedings of which meeting are by us deemed 
irregular and arbitrary : 

' Wherefore we, some of us who were petitioners for the said 
meeting, and others inhabitants of the town, hereunto subscribing, 
thinking it our indispensable duty, in these times of discord and con- 
fusion in too many of the towns within this province, to bear testi- 
mony in the most open and unreserved manner against all riotous, 
disorderly and seditious practices, must therefore now declare, that 
it is with the deepest concern for public peace and order that we 
behold so many, whom we used to esteem sober, peaceable men, 
so far deceived, deluded and led astray by the artful, crafty and in- 
sidious practices of some evil minded and ill disposed persons, who, 
under the disguise of patriotism, and falsely styling themselves the 
friends of liberty, some of them neglecting their own proper busi- 
ness and occupation, in which they ought to be employed for the sup- 
port of their families, spending their time in discoursing of matters 
they do not understand, raising and propagating falsehoods and ca- 
lumnies of those men they look up to with envy, and on whose fall 
and ruin they wish to rise, intend to reduce all things to a state of 
tumult, discord and confusion : 

' And in pursuance of those evil purposes and practices they have 
imposed on the understanding of some, corrupted the principles of 
others, and distracted the minds of many, who, under the influence 
of this delusion, have been tempted to act a part that may prove, and 
that has already proved, extremely prejudicial to the province, and 
as it may be, fatal to themselves ; bringing into real danger, and in 
many instances, destroying that liberty and property we all hold sa- 



88 ROYALIST PROTEST. [1774. 

cred, and which they vainly and impiously boast of defending at the 
expense of their blood and treasure : 

' And, as it appears to us, that many of this town seem to be led 
aside by strange opinions, and are prevented coming to such pru- 
dent votes and resolutions as might be for the general good and the 
advantage of this town in particular agreeably to the request of the 
petitioners for this meeting : 

' And as the town has refused to dismiss the persons styling them- 
selves the committee of correspondence for the town, and has also re- 
fused so much as to call on them to render an account of their past 
dark and pernicious proceedings : 

' We therefore, whose names are hereunto subscribed, do each of 
us declare and protest, it is our firm opinion, that the committees of 
correspondence in the several towns of this province, being creatures 
of modern invention and constituted as they be, are a legal griev- 
ance, having no legal foundation, contrived by a junto to serve par- 
ticular designs and purposes of their own, and that they, as they 
have been, and are now managed in this town, are a nuisance : And 
we fear, it is in a great measure owing to the baneful influence of 
such committees, that the teas of immense value, lately belonging 
to the East India company, were, not long since, scandalously des- 
troyed in Boston, and that many other enormous acts of violence 
and oppression have been perpetrated, whereby the lives of many 
honest, worthy persons, have been endangered and their property 
destroyed. 

' It is by these committees also, that papers have been lately pub- 
lished and are now circulating through the province, inviting, and 
wickedly tempting, all persons to join them, fully implying, if not 
expressly denouncing the destruction of all that refuse to subscribe 
those unlawful combinations, tending directly to sedition, civil war, 
and rebellion. 

' These, and all such enormities we detest, and abhor : and the au- 
thors of them we esteem enemies to our king and country, violators 
of all law and civil liberty, the malevolent disturbers of the peace of 
society, subverters of the established constitution, and enemies of 
mankind.' 

The whole number of voters of the town at this time could not 
have exceeded two hundred and fifty. Fifty two inhabitants sub- 
scribed the protest. 

The first intimation received by the whigs, of the existence of 



1774.] RESOLUTIONS. S9 

sentiments so loyal, on the same pages with the narrative of their 
own patriotic declarations, was derived from the publication. Im- 
mediately after its appearance, a petition was presented to the select- 
men, describing the protest as a false and scandalous attack on the 
inhabitants, the committee, and their doings, charging the town 
clerk with a violation of his trust, and requesting them to convene 
a meeting to consider the subject. The town assembled on the 22d 
of August, and referred the matter to a Committee, 1 to report at the 
adjournment to the 24th. Before that time, many of the protesters, 
shrinking from the violence of the storm they had roused, and under 
the compulsion of force, sought safety by submission, and signed pen- 
itential confessions of error. When the people reassembled, the 
following counter statement and the accompanying resolutions were 
adopted. 

' Whereas, the publication, in the Massachusetts Gazette of June 
30, was made, as a protest of the signers of it against the proceedings 
of the town of Worcester, and contains in it a number of groundless 
reflections and aspersions against the inhabitants of the town, viz : 
it seems to be implied in the direction to the printer, published at 
the front of the protest, that the signers were the only persons in 
the town, that were friends to truth, peace and order, and that they 
only, were the persons, that had any just apprehensions of the ill 
consequences arising by mobs, riots, &c. and that all the rest of 
the inhabitants acted irregularly and arbitrarily ; notwithstanding 
the matters [voted] in said meeting were fairly considered : and that 
they, were so destitute of understanding as to be led astray, by evil 
minded persons, who were endeavoring to reduce all things to a 
state of disorder and confusion ; thereby making themselves the sole 
judges of what is rule and order, and what is not : and proceed to 
stigmatize the inhabitants as holding to such bad opinions, as to pre- 
vent the town's acting prudently and for the general good. It is al- 
so implied in the publication, that this town allows a number of per- 
sons in it, to assume the character of a committee of correspondence 
for the town, and to act darkly and perniciously with impunity, con- 
trary to rule and good order and in violation of the truth: after, with 
unparalleled arrogance, representing themselves as the only friends 
to it, [they] assert that the town has refused to dismiss the persons 
styling themselves a committee of correspondence for the town, when, 

1 The committee were Joshua Bigelow, Jonas Hubbard, David Bancroft, Samuel Cur- 
tis. Jonathan Stone, Benjamin Flagg, Josiah Pierce. 

12 



90 RESOLUTIONS. [1774. 

setting aside the inconsistency of the town's dismissing persons who 
had arrogated the character of a committee, and consequently [were 
in fact] not chosen by the town, they well knew that the town had 
not been requested, either to dismiss persons styling themselves a 
committee, or those gentlemen so denominated by the town : neither 
was there an article in the warrant for calling said meeting, to dis- 
miss any persons whatever from office, nor so much as proposed in 
the meeting. There is also a malignity cast upon committees of 
correspondence in general through the continent, and in particular 
against the committee chosen by this town, without any reason as- 
signed for the same, but the opinion of the protesters, too slender a 
foundation to asperse the character of town officers upon, and [they] 
have endeavored to insinuate into the minds of the public, that the 
men of which committees of correspondence are composed through the 
province, are a parcel of unprincipled knaves, who are endeavoring 
to destroy the lives and property of the peaceable and well disposed, 
and also alleging that it is by these committees that papers have been 
lately published, and [that they have] wickedly tempted all persons 
to sign them, which they call an unlawful combination, tending di- 
rectly to civil war and rebellion. This town knows of no such pa- 
per : if it be the non-consumption agreement, entered and entering 
into through this and the neighboring provinces, that is pointed at, 
we take it upon us to say, that we much approve of the same, that 
if strictly adhered to, it will save our money, promote industry, fru- 
gality, and our own manufactures, and tend directly to prevent civil 
war and rebellion. 

' After offering their opinions of mobs, riots, tumults, and disorder, 
and the proceedings of the town, so cruelly and with such temerity, 
as shows them to be destitute of that humanity and christian charity 
which we in all duty owe one to the other, they brand all that do not 
join with them, with the characters of enemies of the king and coun- 
try, violators of all law and civil liberty, the malevolent disturbers of 
society, subverters of the established constitution, and enemies to 
mankind. And as it appears by the said publication, that the same 
is recorded in the town book, notwithstanding the many aspersions it 
contains against the people of this town, and without the liberty or 
knowledge of the town ; therefore, 

' Voted, that the town clerk do, in presence of the town, obliterate, 
erase, or otherwise deface the said recorded protest, and the names 
thereto subscribed, so that it may become utterly illegible and unin- 
telligible. 



1774.] RESOLUTIONS. 91 

' Voted, that the method taken by the leaders, in protesting, and 
procuring a very considerable number to sign the protest, who are 
not voters in the town, we think was a piece of low cunning, to de- 
ceive the public, and make their party appear more numerous and 
formidable than it was in reality. 

' Voted, that the signers of said protest, on some of whom the 
town has conferred many favors, and consequently might expect 
their kindest and best services, be deemed unworthy of holdino- any 
town office or honor, until they have made satisfaction for their of- 
fence to the acceptance of the town, which ought to be made as 
public as the protest was. 

' Voted, that as it is highly needful that those of the signers who 
have not made satisfaction as aforesaid, should be known in future, 
it is therefore necessary that their names should be inserted as fol- 
lows, viz. 

James Putnam, Isaac Moore, Joshua Johnson. 

William Paine, John Walker, 

« Voted, that the following admonition be given to the town clerk. 

' Mr. Clark Chandler : Whereas, this town, at their annual meet- 
ing in March last, as well as for several years before, honored you by 
choosing you for their clerk, relying on your fidelity, that you would 
act for the honor of the town, and find themselves much disappoint- 
ed, by your conduct in recording on the town book, the scandalous 
protest of William Elder and others, filled with falsehood and reflec- 
tions against the town, Ave have just reason to fear you was actuated 
in the matter by unjustifiable motives, and, at this time, exhort you to 
be more circumspect in the execution of [the duties of] your office, 
and never give this town the like trouble, of calling a town meeting 
again, on such an occasion. The town wish to see your behavior 
such as may restore you to their former good opinion of you. 

' Whereas, the committee of correspondence for this town, willing- 
ly laid all their proceedings before the town, when requested, and it 
thereby appears, notwithstanding the ungenerous abuse heaped on 
them by the protesters, that they have acted with care, diligence 
and caution, therefore, voted, that the thanks of this town be given 
to the committee for their circumspection, and that they be directed 
to go on, with their [former] vigilance, in corresponding with the 
other committees of the several towns in this province.' 

These resolves were directed to be entered of record, and for- 
warded for publication in the Massachusetts Gazette and Spy. They 



92 NON-CONSUMPTION COVENANT. [1774. 

did not appear in the latter newsprint till Dec. S. From an ac- 
knowledgement in the paper of Sept. 13, it appears that the recan- 
tation of forty three of the protesters had been received by the pub- 
lisher, the late Isaiah Thomas, but was not inserted for want of room, 
nor was it afterwards placed in his columns. 

In pursuance of this vote, the clerk, in open town meeting, and 
in the presence of the inhabitants, blotted out the obnoxious record, 
and the work of the pen in defacing its own traces not being satis- 
factory, his fingers were dipped in ink and drawn over the pro- 
test. The pages still remain in the town book, so utterly illegible, 
as to bear full testimony of the fidelity of the recording officer, in 
the execution of the singular and unwelcome duty of expunging, 
thus imposed upon him. 

The selectmen were appointed as a committee, to receive any ar- 
ticles of provisions the inhabitants should contribute, for the poor 
of the town of Boston. 

A committee T was raised, to offer the following covenant, for sub- 
scription, to the inhabitants of the town. 

' As the distresses of the people, loudly call on [all] inhabitants 
of this province, to use their utmost efforts to free themselves from 
that bondage intended for them by the late acts of the British Par- 
liament, and, as we apprehend, nothing will better conduce to such 
purpose than the following agreement : we, whose names are hereunto 
subscribed, promise, we will not ourselves, or any for or under us, di- 
rectly or indirectly, buy or cause to be bought, and as far as we are 
able by advice and command, will prevent our children or servants 
from buying, any article, except drugs and medicines, that may be im- 
ported into this, or any other province or colony on this continent, that 
was manufactured, or came from Great Britain or Ireland, or that may 
come from thence to the West Indies, or any where else, that may be 
imported into this, or any other colony or province on the continent, 
from and after the first day of September next, nor buy any article 
made or brought as aforesaid of any person whatsoever, who shall 
not be furnished with an oath, in writing, taken before a magistrate 
in the town where they dwell, or that next adjoining, that the articles 
shewn, were bona fide imported before the said first day of Septem- 
ber : and we, in the same manner as aforesaid, for ourselves, our 
children and servants, promise we will not buy of any chapman or 

1 Aug. 22. Jonathan Stone, David Bancroft, Josiah Pierce, Jonathan Rice, David 
Chadwick. 



1774.] COVENANT AND OATH. 93 

pedler any articles whatever. These promises and agreements we 
religiously promise to observe, in a sacred manner, until the port of 
Boston shall be opened as usual, the troops withdrawn, the castle 
restored, all revenue acts annulled, all pensions to governors, judges, 
&c. cease, and in one word, until the liberties of this people are 
restored and so secured, that every one may have legal security 
for the safety of his person and property, and again feel, and be, in 
the full enjoyment of those blessings which we are entitled to as 
men, and those rights and privileges which the charter of this prov- 
ince gives us right to expect, demand and strive for. And to deter- 
mine when this is done, the majority of the signers then alive shall 
determine and be the judges.' 

This paper was not only subscribed, but a solemn oath for its 
performance was taken in the following form. 

' In the presence of the Great God, that Being who liveth forever 
and ever, who knoweth the secrets of all hearts, we acknowledge 
that the agreement here subscribed is our free act, and solemnly 
swear that we will, by His grace assisting us, strictly perform the 
same, in its true and literal meaning, without any equivocation or 
mental reservation. So help us God.' 

Oct. 25, A committee of inspection 1 was elected, to examine, from 
time to time, the merchants and traders of the town, and prevent 
their offering for sale, any goods imported or purchased contrary to 
the spirit and intent of the ' solemn league and covenant,' as it 
was styled. 

The system of coercive measures, adopted as vindictive expedients 
for the punishment of past misdemeanors and the suppression of fu- 
ture opposition, had roused the free spirit of the country into intense 
action. The practical operation of the celebrated bills, following 
each other in rapid succession, for the imposition of duties, closing 
the port of Boston, altering the charter, creating officers of the 
crown independent of the people, transporting persons accused for 
trial, prohibiting town meetings, 2 and vesting the government of the 
province in the dependents of the king, aggravated the irritation 

1 John Kelso, Nathan Baldwin, Ebenezer Lovell. 
2 The provision was in the Regulating Bill, that no town meetings should be held 
without permission in writing from the governor or lieutenant governor, after August 1. 
1774, except the annual meeting in March, for the election of rmnicipal officers, and 
that in May, for the choice of representatives. Gordon, i. 250. 



5)4 MANDAMUS COUNSELLORS. [1774. 

and urged to acts of personal violence. The weight of public indig- 
nation fell on those appointed to offices under the new acts, and 
they were soon compelled to lay aside their obnoxious honors. 

Timothy Paine, Esq. had received a commission as one of the 
mandamus counsellors. High as was the personal regard and re- 
spect for the purity of private character of this gentleman, it was 
controlled by the political feeling of a period of excitement, and 
measures were taken to compel his resignation of a post, which 
was unwelcome to himself, but which he dared not refuse, when de- 
clining would have been construed as contempt of the authority of 
the king by whom it was conferred. The committee of correspon- 
dence summoned the friends of liberty in the neighboring towns to 
appear at Worcester, on the 22d of August. Companies, headed by 
their own officers, inarched into the town in military order, but with- 
out arms, and formed in lines on the common before 7 o'clock of the 
morning. When reenforced by our own inhabitants the number ex- 
ceeded three thousand men. A committee, of two or three per- 
sons from each company, was delegated to wait on Mr. Paine and 
demand his resignation as counsellor. The representatives pro- 
ceeded to his residence and easily effected their object. A declar- 
ation was prepared and subscribed by him, expressing his sense of 
obligation to his fellow citizens, reluctance to oppose their wishes, 
regret for having been qualified for the new office, and a solemn 
promise that he would never exercise its powers. The committee 
returned to their constituents, who had moved from the common and 
extended their lines through Main street, from the court house to 
the meeting house. The acknowledgment was considered satis- 
factory : but the confirmation was required in the presence of the 
whole body. A sub-committee was commissioned to invite Mr. 
Paine's attendance. Requests from such a source were not to be 
declined, and he accompanied the gentlemen who delivered the 
message. 

The signers of the protest, had been informed by the committee 
of correspondence, that apology for their opposition would be re- 
quired from them. Forty three of them had met the evening pre- 
vious to this visitation at the King's Arms tavern, 1 and having sub- 
scribed an acknowledgement of error and repentance, and received 
an instrument purporting to restore them to favor, and ensuring 
protection, they had mixed in the crowd, unsuspicious of any act of 

1 This tavern was then kept by Mrs. Sternes, with the royal arms as the sign. It 
stood on the site of the Worcester House. 



1774.] ALARM. 95 

insult. Those who appeared, were collected by the revolutionary 
magistrates, and on the arrival of Mr. Paine, were escorted through 
the ranks, halting at every few paces to listen to the reading of their 
several confessions of political transgression. Having thus passed 
in review, and suffered some wanton outrage of feeling, in addition 
to the humiliation of the procession, they were dismissed. 

The objects of assembling being accomplished, the majority of 
the convention disbanded and retired to their homes. A party of 
about five hundred, with the Worcester committee of correspon- 
dence, repaired to Rutland, to ask the resignation of Col. Murray, 
another of the new council. Before their arrival, they were joined 
by nearly a thousand men from the western towns. A committee 
visited his house, and being informed of his absence from home, re- 
ported the fact. This was voted unsatisfactory, and a most strict 
search was instituted. After convincing themselves of the truth of 
the representation made by the family, they addressed a letter to Col. 
Murray, informing him that unless he published the resignation of 
his office in the Boston newspapers, before the 10th of September, 
they would wait on him again. 

Some of the royalists of Worcester, alarmed at these proceedings, 
and fearful of danger to themselves, when those who had been most 
respected were treated with indignity, retired to Stone House hill, 
within the boundary of Holden, with their arms, and made some addi- 
tions to the natural defences of the situation they selected, which af- 
terwards received the appellation of the Tory Fort. They carried 
such provisions as could conveniently be collected to this retreat, 
and derived some supplies from friends, expecting safety from con- 
cealment, rather than from capacity to resist storm or seige. They 
remained two or three weeks in their rocky fortress ; when their ap- 
prehensions had subsided, they returned. 

A band of the king's troops having made an excursion by night 
up the Mystic river and carried off a quantity of gunpowder deposit- 
ed in the arsenal in the northwest part of Charlestown, the intelli- 
gence spread rapidly through the country, and was magnified as it 
went, into a report, that the soldiers on the neck had slain the inhab- 
itants, and that the fleet and army were firing on Boston. The ef- 
fect was electric. The bells rang out from the spires, beacon fires 
flamed from the hills : alarm guns echoed through the villages, and 
the people rose spontaneously on the summons. It is stated in the 
prints of the day that before the next sun went down, 6000 men from 
the county of Worcester were on their way to fight or fall with their 



90 PREPARATIONS FOR WAR. [1774. 

countrymen if need were, and the venerable Dr. Stiles records in his 
diary, that the succeeding morning would have shone on an array of 
30,000 men concentrated at the point of supposed danger, had not 
their movements been countermanded. The alarm reached Worces- 
ter in the afternoon. The committee of corespondence immediately 
despatched messengers with warrants to the military to assemble. 
The early part of the night was spent in changing pewter platters 
and leaden window frames into musket bullets, and in preparation 
for immediate engagement. As soon as these arrangements could 
be completed, a large company marched, and reached Shrewsbury, 
before the return of messengers from Boston assured them their fur- 
ther advance was unnecessary. 

It has been supposed the occasion had been seized to try the tem- 
per of the people and ascertain the extent and strength of the resolu- 
tion of resistance. The highways, thronged with citizens bearing 
such weapons as the enthusiasm of the hour supplied, are described 
as presenting scenes the counterparts to the display of the military 
establishment of the Dutch dynasty of New York so ingeniously delin- 
eated by its faithful annalist. ' There came men without officers and 
officers without men, long fowling pieces and short blunderbusses, 
muskets of all sorts and sizes, some without locks, others without 
stocks, and many without lock, stock, or barrel ; cartridge boxes, 
shot belts, powder horns, swords, hatchets, snickersees, crow bars, 
and broom sticks, all mingled together.' Yet such was the spirit 
animating the community, that men who had never seen the tents of 
an enemy, left the plough in the furrow and the sickle in the harvest, 
and went out, without discipline, equipments, or munitions, to en- 
counter the trained veterans of foreign lands. Ample evidence was 
afforded of stern determination to meet even the terrible appeal to 
war, and a pledge was given of the support every town might hope 
from its neighbors, in extremity. 

One beneficial result from this excitement, was the admonition of 
the necessity of better preparation for the result which it was now ap- 
parent was hastening. On the 4th of July, the Political society had 
subscribed to purchase two pounds of gunpowder for each of its mem- 
bers : and, in August, had voted a covenant for the signature of each 
citizen, to bind him to provide arms and ammunition. The compa- 
ny of minute men were enrolled, under the command of Capt. Timo- 
thy Bigelow, and met, each evening, after the labors of the day were 
past, for drill and martial exercise. Muskets were procured for their 
armament from Boston. Four cannon were purchased by the town, 



1774.] COURTS SUSPENDED. CONVENTION. 97 

secretly conveyed out of the metropolis, 1 and mounted at an expense 
of =£38. A train of artillery was organized under Capt. Edward 
Crafts. 

The purity of the administration of justice having been corrupted by 
the act of Parliament, it was resolved that its tribunals should be sus- 
pended. A body of about six thousand men assembled on the invi- 
tation of the committee of correspondence, on the 6th of September, 
and blocked up the passage to the Court House. The Justices of 
the Inferior Court of Common Pleas were compelled to make a dec- 
laration in writing, that they would not attempt to exercise their au- 
thority, or appear officially, in opposition to the will of the people. 
The Court, thus interrupted, never resumed the exercise of its func- 
tions. A term was commenced, but immediately adjourned, with- 
out transacting business. No trials were had, or judgments render- 
ed, until July, 1776, when the courts were again opened under the 
new government. 

A convention of all the committees of correspondence, was held, 
in Worcester, on the 21st day of September. This assembly as- 
sumed legislative powers, and in the interregnum of royal prerogative 
and constitutional authority, its orders were obeyed as laws. 

The first object which engaged the attention of this county con- 
gress, in considering the situation of public affairs, and devising 
measures for the common safety, was the organization of the militia. 
It was voted and recommended, that all subordinate officers surrender 
up the commissions given by the royal governors, to their colonels, 
and those of higher rank publish their resignations in the newspa- 
pers. A new arrangement of the military force was directed to be 
made, by division into regiments : the first, to include Worcester, 
Leicester, Hoi den, Spencer and Paxton ; the primary elections of 
company officers to be made by the soldiers : and those who should 
be chosen in this manner, to meet and designate the regimental 
staff. One third of the men, able to do duty, between the ages of 
eighteen and sixty, were to be enrolled, formed into companies, and 
be ready to march at a minute's warning, and committees were to be 
elected to supply their wants should they be called to service. 

A standing committee of correspondence of the convention was 
formed, by the union of the committees of Worcester and Leicester, 

1 £2 12s. lOd. were voted to Mr. Jonathan Rice, for his trouble and expenses in get- 
ting these cannon out of Boston ; £2 to Jonathan Stone for similar services : to Edward 
Knight, £ 1 6s. 8d : and to William Dana and Samuel Whitney, £ 1 los. kl. each, for 
transportation from Brookline. 

13 



93 COUNTY CONVENTION. [1774. 

and the addition of Thomas Denny, Joseph Henshaw, and Joshua 
Bigelow, and authorized to call meetings, communicate with towns in 
the county, and persons abroad, and present subjects for considera- 
tion. 

Civil officers holding commissions in June, were directed to con- 
tinue in the discharge of their duties, excepting Timothy Ruggles, 
John Murray, and James Putnam. 

It was voted, ' as the opinion of this body, that the sheriff do 
adjourn the Superior Court to be held this day, and that he retain 
such as are or may be committed as criminals in his custody, until 
they have a trial.' 

* Resolved : That as the ordinary courts of justice will be stayed, 
in consequence of the late arbitrary and oppressive acts of the Brit- 
ish parliament, we would earnestly recommend to every inhabitant 
of this county, to pay his just debts as soon as possible, without dis- 
pute or litigation ; and if any disputes concerning debts or trespass- 
es should arise, which cannot be settled by the parties, we recom- 
mend it to them, to submit all such causes to arbitration ; and if the 
parties, or either of them shall refuse to do so, they ought to be con- 
sidered as cooperating with the enemies of the country.' 

It was recommended to the several towns, to instruct their rep- 
resentatives, to refuse to be sworn by any officers except such as 
were constitutionally appointed : to decline acting with any others 
not conforming to the charter : and not to attend at Boston, while 
garrisoned with troops and invested by fleets : but should any thing 
prevent their acting with a governor and council, appointed accord- 
ing to the charter, to repair to the town of Concord, and there join 
in a provincial Congress. 

The towns were requested to provide and mount field pieces, ob- 
tain proper ammunition, and put themselves in a posture of defence. 

Sheriff Chandler 1 had presented an address from the Justices of 
the Court of Common Pleas, at its June session, congratulating 
Gen. Gage on his appointment as first magistrate of the province, 
lamenting the disturbed condition of the times, bearing testimony 
against all riots, combinations, and unwarrantable resolves; denoun- 
cing the circulation of inflammatory papers by order of certain per- 
sons, calling themselves a committee of correspondence for the town 
of Worcester, which they represent as stimulating the people to 

1 The Court appointed Hon. Timothy Ruggles, John Chandler, Esq., James Putnam, 
Abel Willard, and Gardner Chandler, Esq'rs. to wait upon His Excellency Gen. Gage, 
and present this Address. It was delivered however by the Sheriff. 



1774.] SHERIFF CHANDLER. 99 

break off all connexions with Great Britain, and having a tendency 
to alienate the affections of the people from the mother country, and 
to create discord and confusion : concluding with the assurance of 
their exertions to discountenance such proceedings, to support the 
execution of the laws, and render the administration successful and 
prosperous. The convention voted, ' to take notice of Mr. Sheriff 
Chandler, for carrying an address to Gov. Gage,' and appointed a 
committee to wait on him and require his attendance. That gentle- 
man presented himself before this remarkable body, whose jurisdic- 
tion seemed supreme, and with some hesitation subscribed the fol- 
lowing declaration. 

' Whereas, the convention of committees have expressed their un- 
easiness to the sheriff of this county, now present before them, for 
presenting with others, an address to Gov. Gage, he frankly declares 
it was precipitately done by him : that he is sorry for it, and dis- 
claims an intention to do any thing against the minds of the inhab- 
itants of this county ; and had he known it would have given offence, 
he would not have presented that address. Gardner Chandler.' 

A copy of the resolves of the convention, certified by the clerk, 
Col. William Henshaw, was published in the Massachusetts Spy. 1 

Resolutions adopted at an earlier session were copied into the 
London journals, as evidence of the feelings of the people. The 
editors ubjoined the significant inquiries, ' doth this look like submis- 
sion ? doth it carry the face of acquiescence V 

The royalist party had long before been prostrated in this town. 
Most of the protesters had been induced to make submission. Some 
who refused, were waylaid and cruelly beaten. A few remained 
obstinate, and finally retired into exile. Others, unable to separate 
themselves from their friends and country, and to sacrifice all they 

1 From the Massachusetts Spy of Sept. 15. ' We have received from Worcester, the 
recantation of John Chandler Esq. and forty two others of the protesters against the 
proceeding's of that town, which gave such just cause of offence to the public ; as also 
the acknowledgment of six justices of that county, for having aspersed the people in 
an address to Gen. Gage. Want of room prevents their being inserted in this paper.' 

These recantations were extorted by a force loo powerful to admit of refusal. Re- 
sistance would have been martyrdom , 

Some of the confessions, published in the prints of the day, are expressed with ludi- 
crous energy. For example : 

' Whereas, I, the subscriber, signed an address to the late Governor Hutchinson, I 
wish the Devil had had said address before I had seen it. Marblehead, Oct. 24, 1774. 

John Prentice.' 



10(1 ROYALIST SUBMISSIONS. [1774. 

held dear, were persecuted into compliance with the public will, and 
at length purchased safety for person and property by soliciting for- 
giveness in terms more humiliating in proportion to the time it 
was deferred. The records of the town afford a specimen, Oct. 5, 
1774, of the self abasement of these tardy ' recantations.' 

' To the inhabitants of the town of Worcester : Gentlemen : Where- 
as, I, the subscriber, with a number of others, signed a protest, 
against the proceedings of the town, and the same was published in 
the Boston Gazette of June last, wherein the inhabitants were un- 
justly reflected upon in general, and also the whole body of commit- 
tees of correspondence throughout this whole province, for which I 
am heartily sorry, and ask the forgiveness of all the inhabitants of 
the town, and the justly offended public, and also for any other of- 
fence that I may have given by any means, whether in word or ac- 
tion. 1 heartily request your acceptance of this sincere acknowl- 
edgment, and that if either of the inhabitants hath any other charge 
against me for any particular of my conduct, that he would make it 
known, that I may have an opportunity of giving christian satisfac- 
tion, which I ever shall stand ready to afford. Witness my hand. 

William Campbell.' 

Joshua Bigelow was elected, Oct. 4, representative to the Gener- 
al Court, to be held in Salem, and Timothy Bigelow delegate to the 
provincial Congress, to assemble at Concord. The former was di- 
rected, not to recede from the most rigid virtue in recovering and 
defending the rights and liberties of the people ; to refuse to be 
sworn by any officer not appointed according to the charter, or to 
act with any branch of the legislature not constituted and support- 
ed in conformity with its provisions : to decline attending in Boston, 
while it should be invested with armies and fleets ; and if prevented 
from acting with a constitutional Governor and Council, to repair to 
Concord, and join the provincial Congress. The instructions to the 
latter, require, that he should endeavor, in the most peaceable man- 
ner, to obtain redress of grievances ; to procure the opening of the 
port of Boston ; restoration of free trade ; removal of the king's troops ; 
resignation of the command of the fortress at the south end of Bos- 
ton ; prohibition from erecting entrenchments by the royal forces ; 
restitution of the military stores forcibly taken from the arsenals and 
magazines ; the resignation of the mandamus counsellors, or their 
impeachment as traitors : the. mission of an agent to Canada to treat 



1774] INSTRUCTIONS. 101 

with its inhabitants, and express grateful recognition of friendly do- 
nations ; and the appointment of a commander in chief for the whole 
militia. Strict observance of the advice of the Continental Con- 
gress was enjoined. 

It is said, ' If all infractions of our rights, by acts of the British 
Parliament be not redressed, and we restored to the full enjoyment 
of all our privileges, contained in the charter of this province, grant- 
ted, by their late majesties, King AVilliam and Queen Mary, to a 
punctilio, before the day of your meeting, then, and in that case, 
you are to consider the people of this province as absolved, on their 
part, from the obligation therein contained, and to all intents and 
purposes reduced to a state of nature : and you are to exert yourself 
in devising ways and means to raise from the dissolution of the old 
constitution, as from the ashes of the Phenix, a new form, wherein 
all officers shall be dependent on the suffrages of the people for 
their existence as such, whatever unfavorable constructions our en- 
emies may put upon such procedure. The exigency of our public 
affairs leaves us no other alternative from a state of anarchy or sla- 
very.' 1 

A more explicit declaration of independence can scarcely be 
found in the splendid document, which in 1776, in more glowing 
words proclaimed the dissolution of all ties of colonial relation. 

Gov. Gage, alarmed by the spirit of the instructions, and the stor- 
my aspect of the times, issued his proclamation, Sept. 28, declaring, 
that it was expedient, the session of the General Court summoned 
for the fifth of October, should not then be held ; discharging the 
members from attendance at that time ; and announcing his intention 
not to meet the assembly. The current of popular feeling was not 
thus to be diverted. The representatives elect, convened at Salem, 
resolved themselves into a provincial Congress, elected John Han- 
cock, President and Benjamin Lincoln, Secretary, and immediately 
adjourned to Concord. 

The Committee of Worcester county waited on Gen. Gage, Oct. 
20, and presented a well written remonstrance against the oppressive 
acts of the ministry, to which, they say, ' this people are determined, 
by the Divine favor, never to submit, but with their lives.' The 
military governor returned a very brief and unsatisfactory answer. 

The patriotic resistance of invasions of liberty was not confined 

1 These instructions were reported by David Bancroft, Jonathan Stone, Nathan Bald- 
win and Stephen Salisbury, They have been printed at length in the appendix to the 
address of the Hon. John Davis, at the dedication of the town hall, 1825. 



102 BLACKSMITH'S CONVENTION. [1774. 

to municipal corporations or general assemblies of citizens. The 
fervid enthusiasm, pervading the whole fabric of society, manifested 
itself in varied forms. Meetings of artisans and craftsmen, as dis- 
tinct bodies, were held, and spirited resolutions adopted. One spec- 
imen, selected from many, will afford example of their proceedings. 
A convention of the Blacksmiths of the County, was held at 
Worcester, Sept. 8, and continued by adjournment to Nov. 8, 1774. 
Ross Wyman, of Shrewsbury, presided, and Timothy Bigelow, of 
Worcester, was clerk. The result of their session, subscribed by 
forty three members, was widely distributed in handbills. It was as 
follows : 

' Whereas, at a meeting of the delegates from the counties of Wor- 
cester, Middlesex and Essex, with the committee of correspondence 
of the town of Boston, in behalf of the county of Suffolk, holden at 
Boston, the 26th day of August, 1774, it was resolved : That all such 
officers or private persons as have given sufficient proof of their en- 
mity to the people and constitution of this country, should be held 
in contempt, and that those who are connected with them ought to 
separate from them ; laborers to shun their vineyards, merchants, 
husbandmen and others to withhold their commerce and supplies : 

' In compliance therefore, to a resolution of so respectable a body 
as aforesaid, so reasonable in its contents, and so necessary at this 
distressing day of trial, we, the subscribers, being deeply impressed 
with a sense of our duty to our country, paternal affection for our 
children and unborn millions, as also for our personal rights and lib- 
erties, solemnly covenant, agree and engage, to and with each other, 
that from and after the first day of December, 1774, we will not, ac- 
cording to the best of our knowledge, any or either of us, nor any 
person by our direction, order, or approbation, for or under any or 
either of us, do or perform, any Blacksmith's work, or business of 
any kind whatever, for any person or persons whom we esteem ene- 
mies to this country, commonly known by the name of tories, viz. 
all counsellors in this province appointed by mandamus who have 
not publicly resigned said office, also every person who addressed 
governor Hutchinson at his departure from this province, who has 
not publicly recanted, also every officer exercising authority by 
virtue of any commission they hold tending to carry any of the late 
oppressive acts of parliament into execution in America ; and in par- 
ticular, we will not do any work for Tim. Ruggles of Hardwick, John 
Murray of Rutland, and James Putman of Worcester, Esq'rs ; nor 



1774.] BLACKSMITH'S CONVENTION. 103 

for any person or persons cultivating, tilling, improving, dressing, 
hiring or occupying any of their lands or tenements. Also we 
agree° to refuse our work of every kind as aforesaid, to all and every 
person or persons, who shall not have signed the non-consumption 
agreement, or have entered into a similar contract or engagement, or 
that shall not strictly conform to the association or covenant agreed 
upon and signed hy the Continental Congress lately convened at 

Philadelphia. 

« We further agree that we will not do any work for any mechan- 
ic, tradesman, laborer, or others, that shall work for, or in any ways, 
or by any means whatever, aid, assist, or promote the business, or 
pecuniary advantage, pleasures, or profits of any of the said enemies 
to this country. 

* Resolved, That all lawful ways and means ought to be adopted 
by the whole body of the people of this province, to discountenance 
all our inveterate political enemies in manner as aforesaid. There- 
fore, we earnestly recommend it to all denominations of artificers, that 
they' call meetings of their respective craftsmen in their several 
counties, as soon as may be, and enter into associations and agree- 
ments for said purposes, and that all husbandmen, laborers, &c. do 
the like : And that whoever shall be guilty of any breach of any or 
either of the articles or agreements, be held by us in contempt, as 
enemies to our common rights.' 

A volume might be collected from the instructions, resolutions, 
memorials, and addresses spread on the records of the town, and 
scattered through the documents of its committees, conventions, 
and political associations. The same decision, intelligence, and in- 
dependence, woven into the papers which have been copied, were 
continually embodied in language, always forcible and energetic 
usually simple and correct, often eloquent and elegant. Many of 
the productions of later periods were marked by distinguished abili- 
ty It is only possible to select a small portion from the great mass 
of materials : the omissions are less to be regretted, as action soon 
gave stronger illustration of feeling, than could be derived from 
written declarations. In the primary movements of the revolution, 
Worcester was the central point from which animating influences 
were diffused over the surrounding country. If the first impulses 
were derived from the metropolis of the state, the motion was com- 
municated and wonderfully accelerated by the vigorous exertion of 
the capital of the county. If the impressions made by that capital 



104 DEPOSITE OF STORES. [1774. 

on her neighbors, were less distinct during the progress, than at the 
commencement of the struggle, it was not because the flame of pat- 
riotism burned less bright, but that the most ardent of her citizens 
laid down the pen to take up the sword, and the efforts to produce 
union and excite resolution in the assemblies of the people, were 
exchanged for demonstrations of their practical effects in the camp 
and on the battle field. 

Towards the close of the year, efforts were made to establish a de- 
pot of provisions and munitions of war, at Worcester. Beef, pork, 
grain, and flour, were collected from the inhabitants, and probably 
from other sources, as subscriptions for the purpose were made by 
some of the patriotic leaders in Boston. A quantity of lead was 
obtained, and some of the committee of correspondence exhibited 
so much zeal, as to solicit the gift of the broad pewter platters of 
family use, to be converted into bullets. As compared with the col- 
lections which gave to Concord the glory of the visit of the British 
troops, on the nineteenth of April following, the deposites here were 
very inconsiderable. 



CHAPTER VII. 

1775 to 1783. American Revolution. Preparations for war. Instructions, 1775. Sur- 
vey of British officers. Commencement of hostilities. Alarm of April 19. March of 
minute men. Tories disarmed. Memorial of officers. Royalist confessions. Clark 
Chandler. British prisoners. Poor of Boston. Military requisitions. Fourth of 
Jul)', 1776. Regulation of prices. Detail of levies of troops, contributions, exertions, 
and proceedings, during the war. County conventions. Constitution. Excise. 
Peace restored. Proceedings as to refugees. 

On the commencement of the year 1775, was a period of intense 
interest. The difficulties between the mother country and the colo- 
nies were fast hastening to a decision by the appeal to battle. The 
whigs, who might at the outset have been contented with the redress 
of grievances, and by reasonable concessions, now looked forward to 
the accomplishment of independence. The royalists, driven by the 
course of events into a position from which they could not recede, 
were separated from their countrymen. The inflexible perseverance 
of the ministry left no hope of conciliation. The language of mod- 



1775.] INSTRUCTIONS. 105 

eration was still on the lips of men, but stern determination in their 
hearts. It was like the pause on the eve of fight, when the signal 
for engagement is impatiently awaited. 

Preparations for the conflict were actively, though silently made. 
In January, 1775, it was recommended to the company of minute 
men, to exercise frequently and perfect themselves in discipline, and 
payment was promised for their services. Efforts were strenuously 
made to procure a supply of arms and munitions. The collectors of 
taxes were instructed, as all public moneys ought to be appropriated 
for the oreatest benefit, and the Provincial Congress had appointed 
Henry Gardiner, Esq. receiver general, to pay over to him all sums 
which might come to their hands from assessments, and it was voted, 
to indemnify them from the consequences of obedience to this in- 
junction. 

A committee of inspection was elected, to carry into direct exe- 
cution the resolves of the Continental Congress against the con- 
sumption of teas and the importation of foreign goods. 

The instructions 1 to Timothy Bigelow, reelected delegate to the 
Provincial Congress, attest the reluctance which was felt to become 
aggressors. After commenting on the violations of rights, and so- 
liciting ' the advice of the general Congress, as to what measures 
are most proper for the province to adopt respecting civil govern- 
ment, which at this day we are deprived of,' they say, ' and we de- 
termine to rest quietly in this situation, however perplexing, agreea- 
bly to the recommendation of our late Continental Congress, until 
the operation of their petition to his majesty be known : excepting 
the commencement of hostilities against us, should require the adopt- 
ing a form of civil government for the defence of our lives and prop- 
erty. And under such exigency, you are to conduct yourself ac- 
cordinoly, and endeavor that the best form possible be adopted, for 
the support of good order and the liberties of the people, which, we 
think, make every servant of the public dependent upon the suffra- 
ges of the people for their authority.' 

The severity of the winter prevented any movements of the British 
troops from Boston, to repress the revolutionary spirit manifesting 
itself in military arrangements, as well as in municipal resolutions. 
Preparations were, however, made for the march of the forces, in 
the spring, into the counties of Worcester and Middlesex, to inflict 
veno-eance on those styled rebels. Capt. Brown of the 53d, and En- 

1 Reported by Nathan Baldwin and Jonathan Stone, Jan. 24, 1775. 

14 



106 SURVEY BY BRITISH OFFICERS. [1775. 

sign De Bernicre, of the 10th regiment, were ordered by Gen. 
Gage, to make an expedition, examine the roads, note the distances 
from town to town, sketch the positions of the streams, heights, 
passes, and posts, and collect such topographical information as 
would be useful for the advance of a detachment. The report of 
their journey, made by the latter officer, was found after the evacua- 
tion of the metropolis. 1 They left Boston disguised as countrymen, 
without uniform, and passed through Cambridge, Watertown, and 
by Framingham, to Shrewsbury, on the old road. The following is 
the account of their visit in Worcester. 

' We came into a pass, about four miles from Worcester, where 
we were obliged to stop to sketch. We arrived at Worcester at 
five o'clock in the evening, very much fatigued : the people in the 
town did not take notice of us as we came in, so that we got safe to 
Mr. Jones' tavern : 2 on our entrance he seemed a little sour, 
but it wore off by degrees, and we found him to be our friend, 
which made us very happy : we dined and supped without any thing 
happening out of the common run. The next day, being Sunday, 
we could not think of travelling, as it was contrary to the custom of 
the country : nor dare we stir out until the evening, because of 
meeting : and nobody is allowed to walk the streets, during divine 
service, without being taken up and examined : so that, thinking we 
could not stand the examination so well, we thought it prudent to 
stay at home, where we wrote and corrected our sketches. The 
landlord was very attentive to us, and on our asking what he could 
give us for breakfast, he told us, tea, or any thing else we chose ; 
that Mas an open confession what he was : but for fear he might be 
imprudent, we did not tell him who we were, though we were certain 
he knew it. In the evening, we went round the town, and on all the 
hills that command it, sketched every thing we desired, and returned 
to the town without being seen. That evening, about eight o'clock, 
the landlord came in and told us there were two gentlemen who 
wanted to speak with us. We asked him who they were ? On 
which he said, we would be safe in their company : we said we did 
not doubt that, as we hoped two gentlemen, who travelled merely to 
see the country and stretch our limbs, as we had lately come from 
sea, could not meet with anything else but civility, when we behaved 
ourselves properly. He told us he would come in again in a little 

1 This paper was first printed in 1779, and republished in 2 Mass. Hist. Col. iv. 204. 
2 A few rods south of the Old South Church. 



1775.] SURVEY BY BRITISH OFFICERS. 107 

time, and perhaps we would change our minds, and left us. An 
hour after he returned, and told us the gentlemen were gone, but 
had begged him to let us know, as they knew us to be officers of 
the army, that all their friends of government at Petersham were 
disarmed by the rebels, and that they threatened to do the same at 
Worcester in a very little time : he sat and talked politics, and drank 
a bottle of wine with us ; and also told us, that none but a few friends 
to government knew we were in town : we said, it was very in- 
different to us whether they did or not, though we thought very dif- 
ferently : however, as we imagined we had staid long enough in that 
town, we resolved to set off at day break the next morning, and get 
to Framingham. Accordingly, off we set, after getting some roast 
beef and brandy from our landlord, which was very necessary on a 
long march, and prevented us going into houses where, perhaps, they 
might be too inquisitive. We took a road we had not come, and 
that led us to the pass four miles from Worcester. We went on un- 
observed by any one, until we passed Shrewsbury, when we were 
overtaken by a horseman, who examined us very attentively, and es- 
pecially me, whom he looked at from head to foot, as if he wanted 
to know me again : after he had taken his observations, he rode off 
pretty hard, and took the Marlborough road, but, by good luck, we 
took the Framingham road again, to be more perfect in it, as we 
thought it would be the one made use of.' 

The horseman was Capt. Timothy Bigelow, sent by the committee 
of correspondence to observe the officers, whose martial bearing, 
notwithstanding their caution and disguise, betrayed their military 
character. Having followed the Framingham road to its inter- 
section with the highway through Sudbury, they turned back to 
Marlborough. There they were in great danger of being seized 
and detained : but, by the aid of the friends of government, they es- 
caped and reached Boston in safety. Soon after, they explored the 
the road to Concord and the country round. 

It was, unquestionably, the purpose of Gen. Gage, to have march- 
ed troops to Worcester, to capture the stores reported to be collected 
here in great quantities, although really inconsiderable in amount. 
A plan of the village, with the outline of military works, and notes in- 
dicating the position of two regiments, was seen by a citizen of the 
town, 1 among the papers left by the British after the evacuation. 

1 The late Isaiah Thomas. An extensive encampment, with a fortress, was projected 
on Chandler hill, the eminence commanding the town on the east. 



108 MARCH OF MINUTE MEN. [1775. 

Possibly it might have been proposed to canton a part of the army 
in the interior. Whatever disposition of troops had been contempla- 
ted, the result of the April movements, prevented the execution. 

In March, the company of minute men were directed to train half 
a day in each week : payment of one shilling was allowed to each 
for this service, and a penalty provided, equal in amount, for ab- 
sence. This company had met almost daily for months. When 
the weather permitted, they paraded on the common, or occupied 
the streets. In the storms of winter, they were drilled in some hall. 
Under the instruction of Capt. Bigelow, they had attained great pro- 
ficiency in military science, and when afterwards mustered at Cam- 
bridge, received commendations from the superior officers, for good 
discipline and celerity of evolution. Captain Bigelow was soon pro- 
moted, and was succeeded in the command by Lieutenant Hubbard. 
When new enlistments were made, this company was virtually dis- 
banded, although the men served in the new corps which were 
formed. 

Their services were soon to be required for the defence of the 
country. Before noon, on the 19th of April, an express came to the 
town, shouting as he passed through the street at full speed, ' to arms ! 
to arms ! the war is begun !' Plis white horse, bloody with spurring, 
and dripping with sweat, fell exhausted by the church. Another was 
instantly procured, and the tidings went on. 1 The bell rang out 
the alarm, cannon were fired, and messengers sent to every part of 
the town to collect the soldiery. As the news spread, the imple- 
ments of husbandry were thrown by in the field, and the citizens 
left their homes with no longer delay than to seize their arms. In a 
short time, the minute men were paraded on the green, under Capt. 
Timothy Bigelow ; after fervent prayer by the Rev. Mr. Maccarty, 
they took up the line of march. They were soon followed by as 
many of the train bands as could be gathered, under Capt. Benja- 
min Flagg. On that day, 110 men marched from the town of Wor- 
cester for Concord. Intelligence of the retreat of the enemy, met 
them after they advanced, and they turned towards Boston. When 
Capt. Bigelow reached the ancient Howe tavern, in Sudbury, he hal- 
ted to rest his men. Capt. Benjamin Flagg, who had commenced 

1 The passage of the messenger of war, mounted on his white steed, and gathering 
the population to battle, made vivid impression on memory. The tradition of his ap- 
pearance is preserved in many of our villages. In the animated description of the aged, 
it seems like the representation of death on the pale horse careering through the land 
with his terrific summons to the grave. 



1775.] 



MINUTE MEN AND MILITIA. 



109 



his march an hour or two later, came up, and insisting on push- 
ing forward without loss of time, both officers moved on to Cam- 
bridge. 

The rolls of these soldiers of patriotism have fortunately been pre- 
served in the office of the Secretary of State, where they were return- 
ed in compliance with a resolution of the Provincial Congress.* 

The organization of the army, which had spontaneously collected 
at Cambridge, was immediately made. Timothy Bigelow was ap- 
pointed Major in Col. Jonathan Ward's regiment. A company of 
fifty nine men, enlisted on the 24th of April, under Capt. Jonas 
Hubbard, with John Smith and William Gates lieutenants, all from 

Worcester. 

Seventeen other soldiers joined the companies of Capts. Wash- 

i ' Muster Roll of a company of minute and militia men, winch marched from the town 
of Worcester to Cambridge, on the alarm, April 19, 177.3, under the command of Capt. 
Timothy Bigelow. in the regiment of which Artemas Ward, Esq. was colonel. 

Timothy Bigelow, captain; Jonas Hubbard. John Smith, lieutenants ; William Gates, 
Nathaniel Harrington, John Kannaday, William Dana, Serjeants ; John Pierce, Cyprian 
Stevens, Joel Smith, Nathaniel Heywood, corporals; Eh Putnam, drummer; John 
Hair, Joseph Pierce, fifers. 



Peter Boyden, 
Benjamin Bennet, 
David Chadwick, 
Eli Chapin, 
Philip Donehue, 



John Hall, 
Artemas Knight, 
John Knower, 
Ephraim Miller, 
William Miles, 



Benjamin Estabrook, Joseph Morse, 
Josiah Flagg, Jonas Nichols, 



Joseph Ball, 
Jonathan Stone, 
Samuel Wesson, 
Thomas Nichols, 
Thomas Knight, 
Joseph Miller, 



Daniel Willington, 
William Curtis, 
William Treadwell, 
Edward Swan, 
Joseph Curtis, 
Samuel Cook, 



Phineas Flagg, 
Nathaniel Flagg, 
Josiah Gates, 
Thomas Gates, 
Jonathan Gleason, 
James Taylor, 
William Griggs, 
Gideon Griggs, 
Edward Hair, 



Josiah Pierce, 
Solomon Smith, 
Ilhamar Smith, 
Phinehas Ward, 
Ebenezer Wiswall, 
James Wiser, ' 
Daniel Haven, 



William Trowbridge, William W r alker, 
John Cole, Nicholas Powers, 



Samuel Harrington, Samuel Dunham, 
Thomas Lynde, Asa Ward, 

Joseph Cunningham, Elisha Fuller, 
Joshua Harrington, John Totman, 
Robert Crawford, Joseph Thorp, 
Moses Hamilton, George Walker, 

Samuel Bennett, Thomas Drury, 

Samuel Hemmenway,Samuel Brown, 

Adam Hemmenway, 
Josiah Perry. 



Asa Harrington, 

'Muster Rail of Capt. Benjamin Flagg's company, in the Colony service, on the alarm, 

April 19, 1775.-' 

Benjamin Flagg, captain ; William McFarland, lieutenant ; Ebenezer Lovell, ens.gn ; 

Daniel Beard, Benjamin Flagg, Jr. Serjeants. 

Eleazer Holbrook, Isaac Gleason, Gershom Holmes, Samuel .Whitney 

Isaac Morse, Robert Smith, Simon Gates, Benjamin Whitney, Jr. 

., ,. i o i oi„.i n „o n i ionic Kni<rlil Josiah Harrington, Jr. 

Abel Holbrook, Samuel Sturtevant, J 



Jacob Holmes, Jr. 
Simeon Duncan, 
Samuel Clark, 
Eleazer Hawes, 



Daniel Stearns, 
Edward Crafts, 
Samuel Gates, 
David Richards, 



Ezekiel Howe, Jr. Samuel Whitney, Jr. 
Abel Flao-g, Jonathan Stone, 

Levi Houghton, Oliver Pierce. 



110 ROYALISTS DISARMED. [1775. 

burn, Fay, and Jones, in Cols. Ward's and Doolittle's regiments of 
infantry. 

About twenty more were enrolled in the regiment of artillery un- 
der Col. Thomas Crafts : Edward Crafts served with the rank of 
captain ; William Dana, and William Treadwell were lieutenants 
in his company. 

While the military strength of the town was arrayed in arms 
against the troops of the king, the committee of correspondence were 
dealing with the internal enemies of the country. On the intelli- 
gence of the commencement of the war, many of the protesters aban- 
doned their families, their homes and possessions, and took refuge in 
Boston. Those who remained were summoned before the revolu- 
tionary tribunal, on the 21st of April, and were compelled to give as- 
surances that they would not go out of the town without permission 
from the selectmen. On the 8th of May, Mr. William Campbell, 
charged with a violation of this agreement, and Mr. Samuel Paine, 
accused of circulating reports injurious to the honor of the provin- 
cial army, were arrested, and sent under guard to the Congress, at 
Watertown, by order of the town. An opportunity was offered to 
the royalists of redeeming their character by joining the American 
troops, ' under penalty of being considered unworthy of the future 
confidence of their countrymen, and willing to join an unlawful ban- 
ditti to murder and ravage.' As the proposal was not complied 
with, the committee issued their precept to the sheriff, to notify 
twenty nine persons to appear before them with their muskets and 
ammunition. The order was obeyed, and the remains of the party 
thus summoned, were disarmed, and then permitted to retire. 

The negroes of Bristol and Worcester having petioned the com- 
mittee of correspondence of the latter county, to assist them in ob- 
taining their freedom, it was resolved, in a convention held at Wor- 
cester, June 14, ' That we abhor the enslaving of any of the human 
race, and particularly of the negroes in this country, and that when- 
ever there shall be a door opened, or opportunity present for any 
thing to be done towards the emancipation of the negroes, we will 
use our influence and endeavor that such a thing may be brought 
about.' 

In September, 1775, 1 the company from Worcester, stationed at 
Dorchester, with the officers of Col. Ward's regiment, presented to 
the General Assembly at Watertown, a remonstrance against indul- 

1 Mass. Spy, Oct. 20, 1775. 



1775.1 OFFICERS' MEMORIAL. HI 

gences to the royalists, representing, < that as some of these vermin, 
or worse, emissaries of tyranny, are crawling out of Boston to 
their forfeited seats in Worcester, there is reason to suspect, that ei- 
ther their expectations fail, and therefore they would gladly return 
to their former seats and profits, until a more favorable opportunity 
presents to carry their evil machinations into execution, or, they are 
contriving, by degrees, to slide back to their seats, and there to a- 
vail themselves of the good opinion of the people, in order to play 
their parts, to divide and subdivide, or by some method weaken our 
union or to form some diabolical plan for the ministry to save the 
supremacy of parliament, under some soft, sophistical reconciha- 

tory terms. 

< Wherefore, we, your humble memorialists, entreat your honors 
not to suffer any of those who return, however humble and penitent 
they may appear, to go at large, or return to their former seats or 
even to be so far favored as to be confined within the limits of Wor- 
cester, but treat them as they deserve, enemies in a superlative de- 
gree ; 'confine them close, and render them incapable of doing harm ; 
or return them to Boston, their favorite asylum.' 

The refugees in Boston addressed Gen. Gage, on his departure 
from the capital, in respectful terms. Among the subscribers of the 
paper presented, were some who had been among the most distin- 
guished citizens of Worcester. 1 

b The dealings of the committee of correspondence with those who 
had incurred "the displeasure of the patriotic, were of no gentle char- 
acter One gentleman, having expressed censure of the doings of 
the revolutionary bodies, was compelled to make atonement. Hav- 
ing been summoned to appear for an investigation of his conduct, at 
its conclusion, he was requested to affix his signature to a paper pre- 
pared for the purpose, afterwards printed in the Spy. The proposal 
could not be resisted, and the following humiliating < confession, as 
it was termed, was subscribed, August 21, 1775. 

< Whereas I, the subscriber, have from the perverseness of my 
wicked heart, maliciously and scandalously abused the characters 
and proceedings of the Continental and Provincial Congresses, the 
selectmen of the town, and the committees of correspondence in 
general : 

i Hon John Chandler, Col. James Putnam, William Campbell, William Chandler, 
Samuel Paine, James Putnam, Jr. Adam Walker, Nathaniel Chandler, were those who 
subscribed the address from Worcester. 



1] ~ CLARK CHANDLER. [1775. 

' I do hereby declare, that at the time of my doing it, I knew the 
said abuses to be the most scandalous falsehoods, and that I did it 
for the sole purpose of abusing those bodies of men, and affronting 
my townsmen, and all the friends of liberty throughout the contl 
nent ; being now fully sensible of my wickedness: and notorious 
falsehoods, humbly beg pardon of those worthy characters I have so 
scandalously abused, and of my countrymen in general, and desire 
this confession of mine may be printed in the American Oracle of 
Liberty, for three weeks successively.' 

Having read this declaration of political sin in public, at the meet- 
ing house, and in the streets, and paid the expenses for printing, 
the confessor was liberated, and immediately fled to seek asylum 
from such administration of justice. 

Mr. Clark Chandler had left Worcester in June, and reached Bos- 
ton by way of Newport. After a voyage to Nova Scotia and a jour- 
ney to Canada, he returned in September, and directly surrendered 
himself and was committed as a prisoner to the common jail, by or- 
der of the committee, on suspicion of having held intercourse with 
the enemy. His health becoming impaired by confinement, he peti- 
tioned the committee, and the General Assembly for liberation, under 
such restrictions as should be prescribed ; but without avail. The un- 
wholesome air and privations of his situation, having brought on dan- 
gerous sickness, on the fifth of December, consent was obtained for 
his removal to his mother's house, sufficient bonds being filed, that 
he would not depart from his home, and on the recovery of health 
would await the orders of the municipal authority claiming power 
so absolute over personal freedom : on the 15th of December, an or- 
der of council passed, granting him permission to reside in Lancas- 
ter, on furnishing security that he would not go out of the limits of 
that town. 

As an incident of the jurisdiction exercised by the committee, 
was the preservation of its own dignity. We find, in December, they 
had committed to prison < one John Holden,' a paper maker, for 
insolent behavior towards its members. The punishment of this 
contempt was confirmed by a resolve of the General Assembly, or- 
dering his detention in jail, until farther directions from the Court. 
These facts are curious, as indicating how unlimited was the 
control of the little bodies, invested by the towns with the care of 
the public safety, and acknowledging no superior, except the Con- 
gress of the state or the continent. 



1775.] MILITARY EXERTIONS. 113 

Early in May, 15 prisoners from the British army were sent to 
Worcester. During the residue of the year, the prison was crowd- 
ed by the successes of the American arms. The captives were en- 
larged on parol, when employment could be obtained among the in- 
habitants, and provision was made for their support and clothing by 
the General Assembly. 

On the 1st of May, a resolve of the Continental Congress provi- 
ded for the removal of the indigent inhabitants of Boston, estima- 
ted to number 5000, and their distribution among the towns of the 
interior. The proportion of Worcester county was 1633 : Lancas- 
ter 103 : Brookfield 99 : Sutton 98 : Worcester 82. Difficulties 
arose about the removal to other towns, and not more than half 
the number assigned, were supported here. 

The selectmen were required to furnish the soldiers of the town 
with blankets, which were promptly delivered. 

June 15, a requisition was made upon the towns for fire arms 
and bayonets for the use of the army. The quota of Worcester 
county was 514 : Worcester, 30. 

June 29, all the towns in Worcester county were earnestly re- 
quested to deliver their powder to a committee, except a small quan- 
tity left for emergency. Worcester supplied three barrels, retaining 
only half a cask from its stock. 

Another requisition was made on the same day, for blankets, and 
for clothing for the men in the service. 

The two largest cannon owned by the town were delivered to the 
Board of War, in November, for the defence of Gloucester. 

In the autumn of 1775, that expedition against Quebec, alike 
memorable for boldness of conception, chivalrous daring of execu- 
tion, and melancholy failure in its result, was projected. Among 
the volunteers, under the command of Arnold, who engaged in the 
winter march through the wilderness, were Major Timothy Bigelow, 
Capt. Jonas Hubbard, and twelve soldiers, from Worcester. In the 
attack on the strongest fortress of the north, on the 31st of De- 
cember, Capt. Hubbard received a severe wound, beneath the ram- 
parts of the lower town : refusing to be removed, he perished in the 
snow storm which raged with unusual violence : Serjeant Silas Wes- 
son was slain : Timothy Rice, mortally wounded, died in the hospi- 
tal : Major Bigelow and our other citizens were made prisoners, 
and remained in captivity until November of the following year, 
when they were liberated on parol, and afterwards exchanged. 
Civil government having ceased to exist in its usual form, and 

15 



114 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. [177G. 

the operation of the judiciary being suspended, in January 1776, two 
persons were elected as magistrates, 1 to exercise the powers of jus- 
tices of the peace, for the preservation of order and the punishment 
of crime. 

Subsequently, May 8, an officer was elected, 2 to take acknowl- 
edgments of debt, where the amount did not exceed twenty pounds. 

A requisition was made on the towns, at the request of Gen. Wash- 
ington, for blankets. The quota of the county was 598 : Brook- 
field, 30 : Sutton, 30 : Lancaster, 33 : Worcester, 27. 

Men were drafted for the reenforcement of the army investing 
Boston, in January, by the officers of the militia and the selectmen. 
Of 749 assigned to Worcester county, there were levied in Worces- 
ter 32 : Brook field 49 : Lancaster 4G : Sutton 39 : Mendon 33. 

On the 23d of May, ( a motion was made, to see if the town would 
support independence, if it should be declared ; and it was voted 
unanimously, that if the Continental Congress should declare the 
American colonies independent of Great Britain, we will support the 
measure with our lives and fortunes.' A copy of this vote was 
transmitted to the representative, 3 for his direction. 

A resolution of the General Court was passed June 25, in com- 
pliance with the request of the Continental Congress, to raise 5000 
men to cooperate with the continental troops in Canada and New 
York. Worcester county was required to furnish 1136 men from 
the alarm and train band lists of the towns, to be formed into compa- 
nies of 59, and embodied in two battalions destined for New York. 
The quota of Lancaster was 72 : Brookfield 69 : Sutton 67 : Wor- 
cester 56. The bounty allowed to each man was £3, with 18s. 
more for the use of arms and equipments furnished by each. 

It was voted to augment the bounty of the soldiers from this town 
to nine pounds, in addition to the allowance from the colony, and 
,£486 were assessed for that purpose. 

On the 10th of July, a new order was passed by the General 
Court, for detaching every twenty fifth man on the train band and 
alarm list, exclusive of those already ordered to be raised, to form 
two regiments, in companies of 77 each, to support the army in the 
northern department. 

On Saturday, the fourteenth of July, 1776, the Declaration of In- 
dependence was received. This instrument, the eloquent echo of 
sentiments as boldly expressed, in less splendid form, from almost 

1 Samuel Curtis, William Young. 2 Nathan Baldwin. 3 David Bancroft. 



1776.] CELEBRATION OF INDEPENDENCE. 115 

every village of New England, long before they were promulgated 
in that paper which has been reverenced as the Magna Charta of 
Freedom, was hailed with enthusiasm. It was first publicly read, by 
the late Isaiah Thomas, from the porch of the old south meeting 
house, to the assembled crowd. On Sunday, after divine service, 
it was read in the church. Measures having been adopted for a cel- 
ebration of the event which separated the colonies from the mother 
country, with formal solemnity, on Monday following, the earliest 
festive commemoration of the occasion, since hallowed as the nation- 
al anniversary, took place. The following account of the ceremonies 
is from the Spy. The homely style of the sentiments, furnishes cu- 
rious contrast with the elaborate exercise of more modern times. 

' On Monday last, a number of patriotic gentlemen of this town, an- 
imated with a love of their country, and to shew their approbation 
of the measures lately taken by the Grand Council of America, as- 
sembled on the green, near the liberty pole, where, after having dis- 
played the colors of the thirteen confederate colonies of America, 
the bells were set ringing and the drums a beating: After which, 
the Declaration of Independence of the United States was read to a 
large and respectable body, among whom were the selectmen and 
committee of correspondence, assembled on the occasion, who testi- 
fied their approbation by repeated huzzas, firing of musketry and 
cannon, bonfires, and other demonstrations of joy ; When the arms 
of that tyrant in Britain, George the III, of execrable memory, which 
in former times decorated, but of late disgraced the court house in 
this town, were committed to the flames and consumed to ashes ; 
after which, a select company of the sons of freedom, repaired to the 
tavern, lately known by the sign of the King's Arms, which odious 
signature of despotism was taken down by order of the people, which 
was cheerfully complied with by the innkeeper, where the following 
toasts were drank ; and the evening spent with joy, on the com- 
mencement of the happy era. 

' 1 . Prosperity and perpetuity to the United States of America. 2. 
The president of the Grand Council of America. 3. The Grand 
Council of America. 4. His excellency General Washington. 5. 
All the generals in the American army. 6. Commodore Hopkins. 
7. The officers and soldiers of the American army. 8. The officers 
and seamen in the American navy. 9. The patriots of America. 
10. Every friend of America. 11. George rejected and liberty pro- 
tected. 12. Success to the American arms. 13. Sore eyes to all 



11G AMERICAN REVOLUTION. [1776. 

tories, and a chestnut burr for an eye stone. 14. Perpetual itching 
without the benefit of scratching, to the enemies of America. 15. 
The Council and Representatives of the State of Massachusetts 
Bay. 16. The officers and soldiers in the Massachusetts service. 
17. The memory of the brave General Warren. 18. The memory 
of the magnanimous General Montgomery. 19. Speedy redemption 
to all the officers and soldiers who are now prisoners of war among 
our enemies. '20. The State of Massachusetts Bay. 21. The town 
of Boston. 22. The selectmen and committees of correspondence 
for the town of Worcester. 23. May the enemies of America be 
laid at her feet. 24. May the freedom and independency of Amer- 
ica endure, till the sun grows dim with age, and this earth returns 
to chaos. 

' The greatest decency and good order was observed, and at a suit- 
able time each man returned to his respective home.' 1 

On the 10th of September, one fifth part of the militia of the state 
were called out immediately to march to New York, to prevent the 
enemy from cutting off the communication between the American 
army in the city and on the island of New York, and the country. 
One fourth part of the residue of the military, were ordered to be 
equipped and ready to march at a moment's warning. Frequent 
calls were made for troops for the defence of Boston and other ex- 
posed places. Worcester answered each demand, following in 
quick succession, to the utmost extent of her means. 

In September, it was submitted to the people to determine, 
whether they would consent, that the House of Representatives and 
Council in convention, should adopt such constitution and frame of 
government, as, on the most mature deliberation, they should judge 
would most conduce to the safety, peace, and happiness of the state 
in after successions and generations. The town, considering the 
importance of the object, and the propriety of all the freemen having 
opportunity to express opinion, declined acting, as so many of the 
citizens were absent in the public service. Opposition was made 
by other towns, to the assembly proposing the measure, assuming this 
high duty, as the representatives had not been elected with a view 
to such object. 

The selectmen and committee of correspondence, having been 
authorized by an act to prevent monopoly and oppression, to fix and 

'Mass. Spy, July 2 J-, 177C. 



177C] REGULATION OF PRICES. J 17 

establish prices, in November, reported regulations for the sale of arti- 
cles of common use and consumption. They recommended to the 
good people of the town, to use their utmost endeavors, by example, 
precept and legal exertions to support the laws of the country in 
general, and called upon them, ' in the name of the government and 
people of Massachusetts Bay, in the name of the passing soldier, in 
behalf of widows and orphans, as they regarded the credit of the 
currency, the establishment of an army, and the support of the au- 
thority of government, which alone renders war successful and gives 
dignity to peace, to prevent monopolies and oppression, by vindicat- 
ing their act ao-ainst the lawless violence which should dare to 

trample upon it.' 1 

The beneficial results of the regulations established throughout the 
commonwealth, were defeated, by the fluctuations of the currency, 
unsustained by a metallic basis, which finally depreciated to worth- 

lessness. 

In December, Governor Cooke, of Rhode Island, by express, for- 
warded letters, addressed to ' all the brave inhabitants of New En- 
gland,' earnestly entreating instant assistance to repel apprehended 
invasion. The whole of Col. Wood's and Col. Holman's regiments 
were ordered to march to the relief of the sister state. Many vol- 
unteers from Worcester, promptly entered the ranks on the alarm, 
and remained in service during a portion of the winter. 

The company under Capt. William Gates, in Col. Holman's regi- 
ment, was principally formed of men from Worcester. Lieutenant 
Nathaniel Heywood and thirty-five privates, were in its ranks, and 
served in New York. Eight were slain in battle or died in camp. 

In Col. Thomas Craft's regiment of artillery were twenty four of 
our citizens. 

i The following are the prices of some articles, as fixed in November, 1776. Labor 
in summer, 3s. per day: Wheat, bushel, Gs. 8d.: Rye, 4s. 6d.: Indian Corn, 3s.: Peas, 
7s • Beans 6s.: Potatos, Spanish, Is. 6d.: Oats, Is. 9d. : Apples, winter, Is.: Fresh 
Pork pound, 4d.: Salt Pork, 7d. : Beef, grass fed, 3d. : Beef, stall fed, 4d. : Cheese, 
6d.: Butter, 3d.: Pork, salted, 220 lbs. barrel, £4. 6s. : Beef, salted, 240 lbs. barrel, 
£3. 8s. 6d. : Flour, £l. 3s. : Milk, quart, 2d. : Cider, at the press, barrel, 4s. : Mutton 
or Veal, pound, 3£d. : Dinners at taverns, of boiled meat or equivalent, 8d. : Suppers or 
breakfasts, of tea, coffee or choccolate, 8d.: Lodgings, (soldiers sleeping on the floor 
not to be considered such,) 4d. : Flip or toddy, made with New England rum, mug, 9d. : 
Cotton and linen homespun cloth, yard wide, best common sort, yard, 3s. 6d. : Tow 
cloth .rood quality and ayard wide, 2s. 3d : Shoes, men's of neat's, leather, best common 
sort, pair, 7s. 6d. : Breeches, of best deer's leather, for men, £2. 2s. : Beaver hats, best 
quality, £ 2. 2s. : Felt hats, 7s. : Making a full suit of clothes, full trimmed, £ 1. 4s. : 
Wood/good oak, delivered at the door, cord, 8s. : Boards, best white pine, at the mill, 
per thousand, £2. 8s. : Hay, English, best quality, cwt. 3s. 



1 !8 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. [1777. 

The year 1777 had scarcely commenced, when a requisition was 
made on Worcester, for 32 blankets ; followed, on the 26th of Jan- 
uary, by a draft of every seventh of the male inhabitants, over 16 
years of age, to complete the quota of Massachusetts in the conti- 
nental army and to serve for eight months at least. 

The act of the General Court changing the ratio of representation, 
had excited discontent in the community. The town of Sutton in- 
vited a county congress, to convene at Worcester, in February, to 
deliberate on existing grievances, and adopt measures for redress. 
The committees of correspondence, in their general meeting, about 
the same time, recommended petitions and instructions for the re- 
peal of the law. At the meeting of the inhabitants of Worcester, in 
March, they remonstrated against its provisions, as impolitic un- 
necessary, unconstitutional, and attended with consequences injuri- 
ous to the inland parts of the state. 

In February, each town was required to purchase and deliver 
shirts, stockings, and other clothing tor the Massachusetts troops in 
the continental army, in the proportion of one set to every seven 
males over 16 years of age of the population. Worcester supplied 
sixty two sets, for which compensation was afterwards made. 

A committee was directed, March 18, to ascertain how much 
each person had contributed towards the support of the war, 
and how much those deficient should pay to render the burden 
equal. A bounty of £2Q in addition to the grants from the state 
and continent, was offered to every soldier who should enter the ar- 
my to fill the quota of the town. 

The sum of ^1656. 2s. 2d. was levied to defray the expenses of 
the war, and for the payment of bounties. 

Upon representation of the great suffering for salt in the interior, 
115 bushels were granted to Worcester, to be paid for by the select- 
men, at the rate of 20s. per bushel, and was distributed. 

The selectmen presented to the town a list of persons, esteemed 
by them to be internal enemies. More were nominated and elected 
in town meeting, June 16, and the names of 19 were finally accepted 
as dangerous. A committee was appointed to collect evidence 
against them preparatory to prosecution. Doubts arose of the jus- 
tice and equity of this extemporaneous process of conviction of 
high crimes, without trial or opportunity for defence, and the clerk 
was directed to suspend his return of the accused with some excep- 
tions. A few months after, on the petition of the suspected, it was 
voted, 'to restore the majority to the town's favor,' and on payment 



1777.] REQUISITIONS. CONVENTION. 119 

of the costs of the proceedings instituted against them, they were to 
be considered innocent of treasonable designs against the republic. 

Money was raised by loan, to purchase 100 muskets and bayonets, 
and a quantity of powder : to be delivered to the militia on pay- 
ment of reasonable price. 

The prisoners of war, long confined in the common jail, or per- 
mitted to labor among the inhabitants for support, were removed in 
June, to Ipswich. The rooms of the prison were soon again 
crowded with captured refugees, suspected enemies, deserters, and 
criminals. 

Every sixth man in Worcester county was drafted, under the re- 
solve of August 9, to join the northern army for three months. 

On the alarm occasioned by the successes of Burgoyne, and the 
march of the British army on Bennington, a company, under Lt. 
Col. Benjamin Flagg, with Capt. David Chad wick, Lts. Abel Hol- 
brook and Jonathan Stone, and G8 non commissioned officers and 
privates, advanced to Hadley, August 28, on their way to Albany. 
Counter orders, received there, directed their return, as the danger 
had ceased. 

The General Court, September 22, strongly recommended to 
the militia of Worcester, and the western counties, that at least one 
half should inarch forthwith, to reenforce Gen. Gates, and payment 
was promised. 

An invitation was given by Sutton, November 3, to the neigh- 
boring towns, to send delegates to a convention, to be held for the 
purpose of taking into consideration an act providing for the pay- 
ment of interest on state debts and securities, and restraining the cir- 
culation of bills of lower denomination than ,£10. The circular 
letter represents the law to be cruel, oppressive, and unjust, and re- 
monstrates against its operation in angry terms. Delegates were 
elected by Worcester. The deliberations of the body, which met 
on the 13th of November, resulted in a petition to the legislature 
for repeal of the obnoxious statute, and redress of grievances. 

A committee was elected, in December, to provide for the fami- 
lies of the soldiers, and considerable disbursements were made in 
this and succeeding years for their support. 

From the return of the selectmen it appears, that 68 men from 
Worcester were in service in the continental line, on terms of enlist- 
ment for 8 months, 3 years, or during the war, who received their 
clothing principally from the town. 

From Capt. Ebenezer Lovell's company, thirty seven enlisted in 



120 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. [1778. 

February, for three years, and from Capt. Joshua Whitney's twenty 
six, for the same period. 

The inhabitants expressed their approbation of the articles of 
Confederation of the United States, in January, 1778, and their de- 
termination to support the government by their utmost exertions. 

A requisition for clothing was made March 13, and Worcester 
furnished 62 sets of shirts, shoes, and stockings, for the army. A 
colonel and 522 privates were detached from the brigade of the 
county, for service on the North river and in Rhode Island : Wor- 
cester furnished 15 men for this battalion, in April. At the same 
time, a draft was made to complete the state line in the continental 
army. Twelve were returned from Worcester to serve for nine 
months. 

A constitution for the state, reported by a committee of the Gen- 
eral Court, in December 1777, and approved by that body in Janua- 
ry following, was submitted to the people, and rejected by a great 
majority. Of 58 votes given here, eight only were in favor of ac- 
ceptance. 

Six of our citizens were drafted, under the resolve of June 12, for 
raising 180 men for an expedition to Rhode Island. On the 23d 
of June, four more were required, as guards for the captured troops 
of General Burgoyne. In November, ct'73G. were granted for boun- 
ties to soldiers and the support of their families. 

The names of six inhabitants of Worcester 1 are included in the 
banishment act, forbidding the return of the former citizens of the 
state who had joined the enemy, requiring them, if they once re- 
visited their native country, forthwith to depart, and denouncing 
the penalty of death if they should be found, a second time, within 
the jurisdiction. One thus designated, had afterwards permission to 
reside in the town, regained the confidence, and long enjoyed the 
respect and esteem of the community. 

In March, 1770, the sum of £ 2000 was assessed to support the 
war, and the militia officers were directed to engage men for the 
public service, by enlistment or draft. In April, three teams were 
furnished for the transportation of warlike stores to Springfield. 
Ten soldiers were raised, in June, to reenforce the army, and sixty 
two sets of articles of dress supplied. A voluntary contribution of 
£ 78, was taken up, in the church, after divine service, for the 

1 John Chandler, James Putnam, Rufus Chandler, William Chandler, Adam Walk- 
er, William Paine. 



1779.] REGULATION OF THE CURRENCY. 121 

distressed inhabitants of Newport. The town obtained, on loan, 
£ 5?G0 for the payment of bounties. 

The anniversary of the Declaration of Independence was com- 
memorated, on the 8th of July, by the ringing of bells in the morn- 
ing, the discharge of 13 cannon at noon, illumination and the dis- 
play of 13 rockets at night. 

Severe distress was experienced, from the depreciation of the cur- 
rency, the exorbitant price of the necessaries of life, and the dis- 
trust of public credit. A convention assembled at Concord, by the 
invitation of Boston, on the 14th of July, composed of delegates 
from all parts of the state, for the purpose of consulting on measures 
to give effect to the recommendations of Congress for the relief of 
the people. Worcester was represented by David Bigelovv and Jo- 
seph Barber. Prices were regulated by a moderate appraisal of the 
value of articles of produce and merchandize; loans to government, 
provision for the support of the clergy, and attention to schools, as 
the means of good education, were earnestly recommended. Ano- 
ther convention was proposed, in October, and an address was adopt- 
ed. 

The town, at a meeting in August, expressed cordial approbation 
of these proceedings, and joined a committee to the standing board 
of correspondence and safety to enforce their execution. 

Resolutions 1 were adopted at the same time, which indicate the 
condition and spirit of the country. Some extracts follow. 

' As many of the respectable merchants and fair traders have re- 
tired from business, their places have been supplied by an augmen- 
ted number of locusts and canker worms, in human form, who have 
increased, and proceeded along the road of plunder, until they have 
become odiously formidable, and their contagious influence danger- 
ously prevalent : Therefore, Resolved, That such persons ought not 
to be admitted to bear a part in any mercantile consultation, but 
should be considered pestilential mushrooms of trade, which have 
come up in the night of public calamity, and ought to perish in the 
same night. 

' Whereas regrators in the public markets, forestallers, engrossers 
of the produce of the country, and higlers, have had a great share in 
depreciating the public currency by their pernicious practices : Re- 

1 Not having been entered of record, by a singular omission,, they have been preserved 
by their publication in the Massachusetts Spy, August, 12, 1779. They were reported 
by William Stearns, Nathan Baldwin, and Joseph Allen. 

16 



122 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. [1779. 

solved, That all such persons are guilty of a dangerous opposition to 
the measures necessary to promote the well being and prosperity of 
this country, and ought to be subjected to the resentment and indig- 
nation of the public, whether their conduct proceeds from a general 
disaffection to public measures, and the independence of these states, 
or from private motives of sordid interest. 

' Resolved, That whoever refuses to sell the surplus of the pro- 
duce of his farm, and retains the same to procure a higher price by 
means of an artificial scarcity, is very criminally accessory to the 
calamities of the country, and ought to be subjected to those penal- 
ties and disabilities which are due to an inveterate enemy.' 

Delegates from Worcester attended a county convention, on the 
eleventh of August, when a scale of prices was fixed, and resolutions 
adopted to adhere to and execute the regulations. 1 

The same gentlemen were deputed to attend the second State 
Convention at Concord, Oct. 12, where a more detailed regulation 
of prices was made, resolutions passed, and an address framed, not 
essentially different from those of the former meeting. 

In August, Levi Lincoln, Joseph Allen, and David Bigelow, were 
elected delegates to the convention for framing a constitution. 

On a requisition for blankets, Sept. 14, Worcester supplied 31. 

The selectmen being required to report the expenditures for rais- 
ing soldiers, made return of 48 persons then in service, who had 
received 8 1906, for bounties on enlistments of three years. The 
supplies furnished for nine of their families, requiring public assis- 
tance, during the year, amounted to £599. 0s. Gd. at the current 
price : reduced to the stated convention price, £39. 17s. Cd. In 
August, £ 892 was granted to pay for clothing. 

Eight soldiers were raised, Sept, 21, at an expense of =£638, for 
the Rhode Island department : and thirteen under the resolve of 
Oct. 9, to join Gen. Washington, at Claverack, on Hudson's riv- 
er ; they received a bounty of £ 30 each, and were supported by 
the town, at a charge, in the aggregate, of .£2515. 10s. These 

1 The following prices stated August, 1779, on comparison with those of November, 
1776, will show the depreciation of the currency in the interval. 

Corn, bushel, £3. 12s.: Rye, £5. 2s. : Wheat, £8. 2s. : Oats, £1. lGs. : Cider, bar- 
rel, £4: Hay, cwt. £1. 10s. : Labor in husbandry, day, £2. I4s. : Women's labor, 
week, £2. : Beef, pound, 5s. fid. : Mutton, Veal, 3s. Gd. : Butter, 1 Is : Cheese, 5s. Gd.: 
Wool, £l.4s.: Men's shoes, pair, £ 6. : Stockings, £3. 12s.: Shirts, towcloth,£4. 
16s. In June, 1779, farmer's produce had advanced in the ratio of 36£ to 1 : West In- 
dia goods as 41 1-9 to 1 : Labor as 15 to 1 of the price in March of the same year. 



1780.] CONSTITUTION. 123 

sums were advanced by individuals, and the credit of the town pled- 
ged for payment. 

The exertions of preceding years had almost exhausted the mon- 
ey, men, and means of the country. The difficulty of complying 
with the increased requisitions for public defence, was severely felt, 
and the burdens of the war rested with heavy pressure on the com- 
munity. Yet redoubled efforts were made to sustain the army, and 
meet the frequent demands of the government. 

In compliance with a resolve of May 4th, 1780, Worcester fur- 
nished 43 sets of blankets, shirts, shoes and stockings. On the 5th 
of June, 3934 men were levied for the continental army, to remain 
in service 6 months. The quota of the county was 638 : Worces- 
ter supplied 22 : Lancaster 40 : Sutton 36 : Brookfield 35 : Mendon 
29. Each soldier enlisting for the town, received i£27 in agricul- 
tural produce, at the prices of 1774. In July, 12 horses were pro- 
vided for transportation and cavalry service. The quota of 4726 
men for three months, under the resolve of June 22, was raised with 
great labor. Worcester county was required to enlist 766 : Wor- 
cester 28 : Lancaster 48 : Brookfield 42 : Sutton 42 : Mendon 
35. The sum of £ 30,000, of continental currency, was assessed, 
as a tax, for the payment of the troops of the town. A further re- 
quisition for men was made, on the same day, to be levied in the pro- 
portion of one to every four detached on the 5th of June, to march to 
Springfield and await orders. Worcester raised 5 soldiers. Pro- 
visions being needed for the army, Worcester was called on to deliver 
17,640 pounds of beef, purchased for .£529. On the 4th of De- 
cember, another assessment of 33,871 pounds was provided for, at 
the cost of £1270. 3s. 3d. 

In May, the Bill of Rights and Frame of Government were sub- 
mitted to the people, and accepted. The town disapproved of the 
3d article of the Bill of Rights, relating to the support of religious 
worship and instruction, and the 20th, providing that the power of 
suspending the execution of the laws should only be exercised by 
the legislature : the first was supposed to interfere with the rights 
of conscience, and the latter to restrict too much the authority of 
the executive department. Some articles of the constitution were 
not accepted. The 4th article of the 1st section, chapter 1st, invest- 
ing the General Court with powers deemed too extensive for the 
legislative branch : the 1st article of the 3d section of the same 
chapter, containing the principle of representation : the 9th article 
following, fixing the quorum of representatives for the transaction 



124 CLASSIFICATION. [1780. 

of business : the 7th article, section 1st, of the 2d chapter, definino- 
the power of the governor : the 3d article of the 6th chapter, estab- 
lishing the value of money, and thereby determining the amount of 
salaries : and the 7th article, prohibiting the suspension of the privi- 
lege of the writ of habeas corpus, except upon most urgent occa- 
sion, and for a limited time, were all negatived. Our citizens were 
desirous of strengthening the executive, and giving more efficiency 
to government. This course, in conflict with the prevalent princi- 
ples before the revolution, was founded on the necessity of an en- 
ergetic administration, as it was made apparent by the progress of 
the war and the embarrassments of the times. 

The first elections under this constitution, ratified by the people, 
took place in September. The votes of Worcester were divided : 
Hancock received 50, and Bowdoin 20, for governor : James War- 
ren 23, and Artemas Ward 28, for Lt. Governor. 

On the 2d of December, 1780, 29 men were required as the 
town's proportion of 4240, to be enlisted for 3 years, or during the 
war. The usual means of procuring the quota were employed 
without effect. The companies of militia furnished no volunteers: 
drafts had become unpopular : committees to seek recruits in other 
states had been unsuccessful : and, at length, a system of conscrip- 
tion was resorted to, as the only remaining resource for maintain- 
ing the army. 

The citizens were divided into twenty nine classes, according to 
the valuation and amount of taxes paid by the individuals. Each 
class was required to furnish a soldier, and provide for his wages 
and support. Each member contributed to this expense, in propor- 
tion to his property, ascertained by the returns of taxation. The 
delinquents were reported to the assessors, and the sums due from 
each to his class was included in the next tax and demanded by the 
collector. By this strong measure, the men were procured in Feb- 
ruary, and mustered into service. 

The inhabitants of Sutton, who seem to have been alike discon- 
tented at the passing or repeal of acts, in March, addressed letters 
to the towns, inviting a convention, to remonstrate against the re- 
solve of the Legislature, suspending the tender of the depreciated 
paper in payment of debts at the rate of 40 for 1. Three dele- 
gates from this town were elected. The assembly was small, and 
no important consequence followed from the meeting. 

Although the line of the continental army had been filled by per- 
manent enlistments, troops were required for occasional service. 



1780.] REQUISITIONS. CURRENCY. 125 

In June, a detachment of 500 men was ordered to march to Rhode 
Island, and Worcester granted £ 414, in hard money, for the pay- 
ment of its troops in the expedition. June 22, the town was re- 
quired to procure 18,080 pounds of beef, and appropriated £ 400 
in gold and silver for that purpose. On the same day, another re- 
solve levied on the town 29 blankets, and 59 sets of articles of clo- 
thing. On the 30th, 23 men, for three months service were raised. 
The supplying of soldiers had become so difficult, that they were 
only procured by exorbitant bounties, and the most zealous exer- 
tions. 1 

In anticipation of an attack on New York, Gen. Washington 
asked for reenforcements, and one quarter part of the militia were 
ordered to hold themselves in readiness to move. The town voted 
to grant pay to them, should they march, in the same proportion with 
the regular troops. 

The surrender of Cornwallis diffused general joy throughout the 
country, as the omen of a triumphant termination of the war. The 
event was commemorated here, on the 7th of November, by the 
usual festive observances of days of rejoicing. ' In consequence of 
this glorious intelligence,' says the Spy, with singular extravagance 
of expression, ' the morning was ushered in by ringing of bells, dis- 

1 The amount of money raised by the inhabitants for the support of the war, was real- 
ly very great. The depreciation of the paper currency rendered the nominal amount of 
taxation excessive. The true value of grants and appropriations may be estimated by 
reference to the subjoined scale. The figures indicate the number of dollars, in conti- 
nental currency, equivalent to one hundred, in gold or silver. To April, 1780, the value 
was fixed as stated below, by the act of Massachusetts. From that date, it has been 
ascertained by taking the average depreciation through the month. 

1777. 
January, .... 105 
February, .... 107 

March, 109 

April, 112 

May, 115 

June, 120 

July, . . . : . 125 

August, 150 

September, . . . 175 
October, .... 275 
November, . . . 300 
December, . . . 310 

In 1781, one dollar of specie, was equal to 187 cents, in new emission bills, from Feb. 
27 to May 1 : 225 to May 25 : 300 to June 15 : 400 to Oct. 1. Below these dates, the 
depreciation approached total worthlessness. 

The whole expenses of the Revolutionary war to the States were, in paper money, 
$ 359,547,027 : estimated in specie, % 135,193,703. 



1778. 


1779. 


1780. 




. . . 742 . . 


. . . 2934 


350 . . 


. . . 868 . . 


. . . 3322 


. ; . . . 375 . . 


. . . 1000 . . 


. . . 3736 


400 . . 


. . . 1104 . . 


. . . 4000 


400 , . 


. . . 1215 . . 


. . . 5450 


400 . . 


. . . 1342 . . 


. . . 6650 


425 . . 


. . . 1477 . . 


. . . 6900 


450 . . 


. . . 1630 . . 


. . . 7000 




. . . 1800 . . 


. . . 7100 


500 . . 


. . . 2030 . . 


. . . 7200 








G34 . . 


. . , 2595 . . 


. . . 7400 



120 EXCISE ACT. [1782. 

charging of cannon, displaying of colors, attended with the shouts 
of a grateful populace, and even Aurora advanced and unlocked the 
ruddy gates of the morning with a sympathetic smile.' 

In January, 1782, the town expressed strong disapprobation of an 
act imposing duties on spirituous liquors, teas, and other articles of 
luxury. The instructions to the representative, reported by Timo- 
thy Paine, Esq. Nathan Baldwin, and Cornelius Stowell, illustrate 
the change of principles with times. The denunciations of tea in 
the votes, resolutions, and solemn covenants of 1774, had been for- 
gotten, and opinions of the value of spirits are expressed which have 
been demonstrated to be entirely unsound by the philanthropists 
of recent days. 

'Whereas, the town, at a meeting held on the 21st day of Janua- 
ry, 1782, dissapproved of a late act of this commonwealth, laying an 
excise on wine, rum, wheel carriages, &c. and did then vote to in- 
struct Samuel Curtis, Esq. their representative, to use his utmost 
endeavors to have that act repealed : 

'The town now, January 25, taking the matter again into con- 
sideration, do give the following reasons why said act ought to be 
repealed. 

' 1. It is an indirect method of levying monies; as those who de- 
fray those duties cannot know what sum they pay; which is contra- 
ry to the genius of a free government, which should equalize bur- 
dens. 

' 2. It multiplies oaths, and subjects a great number of persons 
to be sworn, in matters wherein they are deeply interested : and, 
consequently, instead of suppressing immorality, has a contrary 
tendency. 

' 3. If it is necessary to lay duties for the support of government 
and the suppression of extravagance, such duties ought to be levied 
on such articles as are merely luxurious, and not on some of those 
mentioned in this act : spirituous liquors, being absolutely necessary 
for our seafaring brethren, coasting along our shores in boats and 
lighters, at all seasons of the year, to supply the markets with wood, 
lumber, and fish : also for the farmer, whose fatigue is almost un- 
supportable in haytime and harvest ; and for the beginners in bring- 
ing forward new townships where they have nothing to drink but 
water, and are, perhaps, exposed to more hardships than any other 
persons : nor on Bohea Tea, which, in populous towns, and in many 
places in the country, is substituted, by many poor persons, in the room 



1782.] EXCISE ACT. 127 

of milk, which is not to be had, and they find it to be a cheap diet : 
nor on common chaises and other carriages, such as are kept in the 
country, for the necessary conveyance of families to meeting, &c : 
the use of them very often saves the keeping of a horse extraordina- 
ry, and enables the farmer to keep more cattle and sheep, which are 
more profitable ; and all carriages being manufactured among our- 
selves, laying a duty upon them has a tendency to discourage all 
those mechanics who are employed in making them. 

' 4. The mode pointed out in the act, for collecting duties, is 
much more expensive than necessary, however small the commis- 
sions allowed the collector may appear : for if the collector can afford 
to ride into every town of the county for three per cent, the com- 
mon collector of taxes in each town can afford to collect the same 
in his own town for one per cent : and convey the money to the 
treasury with his other public money. 

'5. All consumers of spirituous liquors at taverns, will pay about 
eight times as much as the duties amount to : for it is well known, 
that the tavern keeper sells his mixed liquors for two pence more 
in a mug than before the excise was laid, when, in fact, the duties 
on each mug do not amount to more than a farthing. 

'6. All persons living upon the borders of this government, will 
purchase liquors for their own consumption of the neighboring gov- 
ernments, and thereby avoid paying any of said duties. 

' 7. The act laying an excise upon tea, exempts all persons from 
paying a duty who buy at one time fifty pounds or more of Bohea 
tea, or twenty five pounds or more of other India tea, which appears 
to be calculated to lay a tax upon the poor and exempt the rich. 

' 8. The consumers of spirituous liquors are charged by the retail- 
er and tavern keeper with the whole of the excise, and they are 
obliged to pay it, when, at the same time, the seller is allowed ten 
per cent for leakage and waste, which, with three per cent allowed 
the collector, amounts to nearly thirteen per cent out of the duties in- 
tended to be raised by said act : as also a further allowance to be 
made to the seller for as much more as he shall see cause to swear 
that he may have lost by extraordinary leakage or other casualty. 

' 9. There is no check upon the collector's accounts, nor any thing 
to prove that the whole money he shall collect is contained in the 
accounts he shall render to the Receiver General : when, by for- 
mer excise acts, the collector, when he received any duties, was 
obliged to give two receipts of the same tenor and date, one of which 
was to be lodged with the clerk of the Sessions, and the clerk was 



128 WAR TERMINATED. [1782. 

obliged to transmit the same or copies, to the Treasurer, in order 
to compare with the accounts of the Collector. 

' Lastly. The act is attended with many difficulties, and has a di- 
rect tendency to embarrass and obstruct trade, and, it is the opin- 
ion of this town, if continued, it will create great uneasiness among 
the good people of this Commonwealth, and not answer the design 
of government in passing the same. 

' Tbe town clerk is, therefore, hereby directed, to furnish Samuel 
Curtis, Esq. our representative, with a copy of our vote of the 21st 
inst. and the foregoing reasons : and the said Samuel Curtis is di- 
rected to use his endeavors, not only to cause the said act to be re- 
pealed, but to prevent in future any excise or duty being laid upon 
the necessaries of life.' 

The last requisition for men to join the army was in March, 
1782, when 6 were drafted, for three years. 1 

The minute recital we have followed seemed necessary, as the 
only means of giving adequate idea of those municipal exertions, 
whose merit has almost passed from remembrance, in the triumphant 
results they aided to accomplish. 

The supplies, and expenditures of the towns, were charged to 
the commonwealth, and allowed by the United States. But, as 
they only went to discharge taxes and assessments, they were, in 
reality, uncompensated gratuities to the public. 

Worcester furnished a large proportion of her male population to 
the army of the revolution. The exact numbers in service cannot 
be ascertained with certainty. If we include with the troops of the 
regular line, those called out for short periods of duty, the following 
may be considered as a correct statement of the numbers of men 
from Worcester in military service during seven years of war : 

1 colonel, 2 lieutenant colonels, 2 majors, 7 captains, 10 lieuten- 
ants, 5 ensigns, 20 Serjeants, and '389 privates. 

A letter from the committee of correspondence of Boston, in rela- 
tion to the absentees and refugees, was received in May, and a 
committee 2 elected to express the sentiments of the town in reply. 

1 Quota of Worcester county, 217 : Brookfield 12 : Sutton 12 : Shrewsbury 9 : Lan- 
caster 7, (Sterling- having been taken off) : Mendon 5, (Milf'ord being set off). This and 
some earlier requisitions for men, clothing, and provisions, were apportioned, not on the 
basis of population, but property according to valuation : which explains the difference 
in relative proportions. 

2 Levi Lincoln, William Stearns, Joseph Allen, David Bigelow, Isaiah Thomas, Jo- 
seph Wheeler, Jonathan Rice. 



1783.] ROYALISTS. 129 

The following, selected from many votes reported to and accept- 
ed by the citizens, May 19, 1783, contains ths substance of their 
doings. 

'Voted, That this town consider every country, in times of inva- 
sion, as having equally a right to the assistance, personal services, 
and property of all its subjects, in opposing its assailants. That 
this country, more than eight years since, was invaded, and has been 
scourged by a war, which, for the purpose of reducing it to the 
servile subjection of foreign domination, lias been, by sea and land, 
wasting, and by every species of barbarity, distressing its innocent 
inhabitants : a war that has desolated and burned whole towns, and 
rendered wretched and turned out thousands of virtuous Ameri- 
cans, destitute, despoiled, and unprovided for by the treaty of peace, 
which leaves them dependent on the gratitude and generosity of the 
country : a war promoted, encouraged, and invited by those, who, 
the moment the bloody banners were displayed, abandoned their 
native land, turned parricides, and conspired to involve their coun- 
try in tumult, ruin, and blood. 

' Voted, That, in the opinion of this town, it would be extreme- 
ly dangerous to the peace, happiness, liberty, and safety of these 
states, to suffer persons of the above description to become the sub- 
jects of and reside in this government : that it would be not only 
dangerous, but inconsistent with justice, policy, our past laws, the 
public faith, and the principles of a free and independent state, to 
admit them ourselves, or have them forced upon us without our 
consent. 

' Voted, That, in the opinion of this town, this commonwealth 
ouo-ht with the utmost caution, to naturalize, or in any other way 
admit as subjects, a common enemy, a set of people who have been 
by the united voice of the continent, declared outlaws, exiles, aliens, 
and enemies, dangerous to its political being and happiness. 

' Voted, That while there are thousands of the innocent, peacea- 
ble and defenceless inhabitants of these states, whose property has 
been destroyed and taken from them in the course of the war, for 
whom no provision is made, to whom there is no restitution of estates, 
no compensation for losses, that it would be unreasonable, cruel, and 
unjust, to suffer those who were the wicked occasion of those losses, 
to obtain a restitution of the estates they refused to protect, and 
which they have abandoned and forfeited to their country. 

' Voted, That it is the expectation of this town, and their earnest 
17 



130 INSURRECTION. [1782. 

request of their committee of correspondence, inspection and safety, 
that they, with care and diligence, will observe the movements of 
our only remaining enemies : that until the further order of govern- 
ment, they will, with decision, spirit and firmness, endeavor to en- 
force and carry into execution, the several laws of this commonwealth 
respecting these enemies to our rights, and the rights of mankind : 
give information should they know of any obtruding themselves in- 
to any part of this state, suffer none to remain in this town, but cause 
to be confined immediately, for the purpose of transportation, accor- 
ding to law, any that may presume to enter it. ' 



CHAPTER VIII. 

17S2 to 1787. Insurrection. Distresses of the people. Count}' Conventions, 1782, 
1784, 17 86. Court stopped, Sept. 1786. Spirited conduct of Judge Ward. Pro- 
ceeding's of the insurgents. Convention, Sept. 1786. Town meeting-, Oct. 178G. 
Court of Sessions interrupted. Sheriff Greenleaf. Insurgents occupy the town, Dec. 
1786. Militia of Worcester appear in arms for the government. Capt. Howe. Con- 
sultations of the insurgents. Distresses of their retreat. Gen. Lincoln's army. Afl'air 
at New Braintrce. Dispersion of the insurgents. 

The struggles of the Revolution had scarce terminated, before dis- 
turbances arose among the people, which, in their progress, brought 
the commonwealth to the very verge of ruin. 

Could the existence of insurrection and rebellion be effaced from 
memory, it would be wanton outrage to recall from oblivion the tale 
of misfortune and dishonor. But those events cannot be forgotten : 
they have floated down in tradition : they are recounted by the 
winter fire-side, in the homes of New England : they are inscribed 
on roll and record in the archives and annals of the state. History, 
the mirror of the past, reflects with painful fidelity, the dark as well 
as the bright objects from departed years, and although we may 
wish to contemplate only the glowing picture of patriotism and pros- 
perity, the gloomy image of civil commotion is still full in our sight, 
shadowing the background with its solemn admonition. 

The investigation of the causes of the unhappy tumults of 17SG, 



1782.] DISTRESSES OF THE PEOPLE. 131 

does not belong to the narrative of their local effects on one of the 
principal scenes of action. Bat it would be great injustice to omit 
the statement, that circumstances existed, which palliate, though 
they do'not justify, the conduct of those who took up arms against 
the government of their own establishment. After eight years of 
war, Massachusetts stood, with the splendor of triumph, in repub- 
lican poverty, bankrupt in resources, with no revenue but of an ex- 
piring currency, and no metal in her treasury more precious than 
the continental copper, bearing the devices of union and freedom. 
The country had been drained by taxation for the support of the 
army of independence, to the utmost limit of its means ; public 
credit was extinct, manners had become relaxed, trade decayed, 
manufactures languishing, paper money depreciated to worthless- 
ness, claims on the nation accumulated by the commutation of the 
pay of officers for securities, and a heavy and increasing pressure of 
debt rested on commonwealth, corporations, and citizens. The 
first reviving efforts of commerce overstocked the markets with for- 
eign luxuries and superfluities, sold to those who trusted to the future 
to supply the ability of payment. The temporary act of 1782, mak- 
ing property a tender in discharge of pecuniary contracts, instead of 
the designed remedial effect, enhanced the evils of general insolvency, 
by postponing collections. The outstanding demands of the royal- 
ists refugees, who had been driven from large estates and extensive 
business, enforced with no lenient forbearance, came in to increase 
the embarrassments of the deferred pay clay. At length, a flood of 
suits broke out. In 1784, more than 2000 actions were entered in 
the county of Worcester, then having a population less than 50,000, 
and in 1785, about 1700. Lands and goods were seized and sacri- 
ficed on sale, when the general difficulties drove away purchasers. 
Amid the universal distress, artful and designing persons discerned 
prospect for advancement, and fomented the discontent by inflamma- 
tory publications and seditious appeals to every excitable passion 
and prejudice. The constitution was misrepresented as defective, 
the administration as corrupt, the laws as unequal and unjust. The 
celebrated papers of Honestus directed jealousy towards the judi- 
cial tribunals, and thundered anathemas against the lawyers, un- 
fortunately for them, the immediate agents and ministers of cred- 
itors. Driven to despair by the actual evil of enormous debt, and 
irritated to madness by the increasing clamor about supposed griev- 
ances, it is scarcely surprising that a suffering and deluded people 
should have attempted relief, without considering that the misery 



132 COUNTY CONVENTION. [1782. 

they endured was the necessary result from the confusion of years of 
warfare. x 

Before the close of the revolutionary contest, whose pressure had 
united all by the tie of common danger, indications of discontent had 
been manifested. The acts of the legislature had excited temporary 
and local uneasiness in former years, as the operation of laws conflict- 
ed with the views of expediency or interest entertained by the village 
politicians. But in 1782, complaints arose of grievances, springing 
from the policy and administration of government, of more general 
character. On the 14th of April of that year, the delegates of 
twenty six towns of the county assembled in convention, and at- 
tributing the prevailing dissatisfaction of the people, to want of 
confidence in the disbursement of the great sums of money annual- 
ly assessed, recommended instructions to the representatives, to re- 
quire immediate settlement with all public officers entrusted with 
the funds of the commonwealth ; and if the adjustment was delayed 
or refused, to withdraw from the General Court, and return to their 
constituents ; to reduce the compensation of the members of the 
House, and the fees of lawyers ; to procure sessions of the Court of 
Probate in different places in the county ; the revival of confessions 
of debt ; enlargement of the jurisdiction of justices of the peace to 
£20: contribution to the support of the continental army in spe- 
cific articles instead of money : and the settlement of accounts be- 
tween the Commonwealth and Congress. At an adjourned session, 
May 14, they further recommended, that account of the public ex- 
penditures should be annually rendered to the towns ; the removal 
of the General Court from Boston ; separation of the business of 
the Common Pleas and Sessions, and inquiry into the grants of 
lands in Maine in favor of Alexander Shepherd and others. Wor- 
cester was represented in these assemblies, and in the instructions 
to Samuel Curtis, Esq., framed in accordance with their resolutions, 

1 Could we roll back the tide of time, till its retiring wave left bare the rocks on 
which the commonwealth was so nearly wrecked, it is not improbable, we should discov- 
er, that a loftier and more dangerous ambition, and wider, deeper, and more unhallowed 
purposes, urged on and sustained the men who were pushed into the front rank of rebel- 
lion, than came from the limited capacity of their own minds. We might find that the 
accredited leaders of 1786, were only humble instruments of stronger spirits, waiting in 
their concealment the results of the tempest they had roused. Fortunately, the energy 
of government, gave to rising revolution the harmless character of crushed insurrection, 
saved to after years the inquiry for the Catalines of the young republic, and left to us 
the happy privilege of receiving the coin impressed with the mark of patriotism at its 
stamped value, without testing its deficiency of weight, or assaying the metal to deter- 
mine the mixture of alloy. 



1784.] COUNTY CONVENTION. 133 

on the 8th of June, the town represented as additional grievances, 
that the Treasurer held the office of Justice of the Common Pleas in 
Middlesex, interfering with the discharge of his general duties ; and 
the proposition for the allowance of half pay for life to the officers 
deranged on the new organization of the army, and not in service. 
Some of the complaints were quieted by legal provisions, and when 
the convention was appointed to be again held by adjournment, in 
August, the few discontented persons in attendance dispersed with- 
out transacting business. 1 

The murmurs of the coming storm were first heard here, early in 
1784. On the invitation of Sutton to each town of the county, the 
capital sent delegates to a convention, held in March of that year, of 
which Ebenezer Davis, Esq. was President. Although assembled for 
the professed purpose of considering the expediency of an excise duty 
alone, the inquiries of this body were more extensive in pursuit of 
existing evils. When the result of its deliberations was communi- 
cated to the inhabitants of Worcester, they adopted for themselves 
the petition prepared for general acceptance, representing as grievan- 
ces, (he grant to Congress of an impost for twenty five years to dis- 
charge the interest accruing on state securities ; the payment from 
the treasury of the expenses of festive days of rejoicing ; large com- 
pensation to officers of the continental army ; neglect to redeem the 
paper currency ; the want of a circulating medium ; and the impair- 
ed state of credit. The representative of the town was instructed 
to endeavor to procure the removal of the General Court from Bos- 
ton to some country town, where it would be secure from improper 
influences ; and to cause an account of the debts, revenues and 
charges of government to be published annually. These complaints, 
unnoticed by the Legislature, seemed to be hushed and quieted by 
the very neglect they experienced. 

But the spirit of discontent, though stilled, was not extinct. It 
spread wider and deeper, and grew stronger in the minds of men, 
and its voice was again heard. In May, 1786, another invitation 
from Sutton, for a general meeting, was circulated, and passed over 
here without attention. The delegates of 17 towns, however, form- 
ed a convention at Leicester, and elected Willis Hall, of Sutton, its 

1 ' While the great body of the people desired only escape from impending suits, 
without premeditated malice against the Commonwealth or its institutions, every 
trivial cause was magnified and perverted to increase the existing irritation, till, 
under the influence of delusion, a deadly blow was struck at both.' MSS. Centennial 
Address of Hon. John Davis. 



134 GRIEVANCES. [1786. 

President. As the attendance was thin, letters were addressed to 
Worcester, and the other towns of the county unrepresented, re- 
questing their participation, and an adjournment took place to the 
15th of August following. Our inhabitants, at a meeting held on this 
application, determined, by a great majority, not to comply; on the 
grounds, that the body from which it emanated was not recognized 
by the constitution, and that its session was unnecessary and ille- 
gal. Thirty seven towns, appeared by their representatives when 
the convention was reorganized at Leicester. It is not uninteres- 
ting to notice the gradual increase of alleged evils in its doings. 
In 1784, the list was brief. In 1786, without essential change in pol- 
icy or condition, it had swelled to voluminous extent. In addition 
to the grievances already stated, they enumerated among the sources 
of uneasiness, abuses in the practice of the law ; exorbitance of the 
items in the fee bill ; the existence and administration of the Courts 
of Common Pleas and Sessions; the number and salaries of public 
officers ; grants to the Attorney General ; and to Congress, while 
the state accounts remained unliquidated. A committee was in- 
structed to report a memorial, at another session, to be had, by ad- 
journment, in Paxton, on the last Tuesday of September. 

Thus far, redress had been sought by the constitutional appeal of 
the citizen to the Legislature. The recorded proceedings of the 
convention are of pacific character, expressing disapprobation of 
combinations, mobs, and riots : yet, it is probable, that during the 
period of its consultations, the bold design was originated by the 
most violent of its members, of resisting the execution of the laws 
and suspending the operations of courts. Soon after the first meet- 
ing, it was stated in the paper of the town, printed by Mr. Thomas, 
that apprehensions existed of obstruction to the Common Pleas in 
June. The first open act of insurrection followed close upon the 
adjournment of the convention in August. 

Although warning of danger had been given, confiding in the loy- 
alty of the people, their love of order, and respect for the laws, the 
officers of government had made no preparations to support the 
court, to be held in Worcester, in September, 1786. On Monday 
night, of the first week in that month, a body of eighty armed men, 
under Capt. Adam Wheeler of Hubbardston, entered the town, and 
took possession of the Court House. Early the next morning, their 
numbers were augmented to nearly one hundred, and as many more 
collected without fire arms. The Judges of the Common Pleas had 
assembled at the house of the Hon. Joseph Allen. At the usual 



1786.1 COURTS SUSPENDED. 13 5 

hour, with the Justices of the Sessions and the members of the bar, 
attended by the clerk and sheriff, they moved towards the Court 
House. Chief Justice Artemas Ward, a general of the revolution, 
united intrepid firmness with prudent moderation. His resolute and 
manly bearing on that day of difficulty and embarrassment, sustain- 
ed the dignity of the office he bore, and commanded the respect even 
of his opponents. On him devolved the responsibility of an occasion 
affecting deeply the future peace of the community : and it was sup- 
ported well and ably. 

On the verge of the crowd thronging the hill, a sentinel was pa- 
cing on his round, who challenged the procession as it approached 
his post. vien. Ward, sternly ordered the soldier, formerly a subal- 
tern of his own particular regiment, to recover his levelled musket. 
The man, awed by the voice he had been accustomed to obey, in- 
stantly complied, and presented his piece, in military salute, to his 
old commander. The Court, having received the honors of war, from 
him who was planted to oppose their advance, went on. The mul- 
titude, receding to the right and left, made way in sullen silence, 
till the judicial officers reached the Court House. On the steps 
was stationed a file of men with fixed bayonets : on the front, stood 
Captain Wheeler, with his drawn sword. The crier was directed 
to open the doors, and permitted to throw them back, displaying a 
party of infantry with their guns levelled, as if ready to fire. . Judge 
Ward then advanced, and the bayonets were turned against his 
breast. He demanded, repeatedly, who commanded the people 
there ; by what authority, and for what purpose, they had met in hos- 
tile array. Wheeler at length replied : after disclaiming the rank of 
leader, he stated, that they had come to relieve the distresses of the 
country, by preventing the sittings of courts until they could obtain 
redress 'of grievances. The Chief Justice answered, that he would 
satisfy them their complaints were without just foundation. He was 
told by Capt. Smith of Barre, that any communication he had to 
make must be reduced to writing. Judge Ward indignantly refused 
to do this: he said, he < did not value their bayonets: they might 
plunge them to his heart : but while that heart beat he would do 
his duty : when opposed to it, his life was of little consequence : if 
they would take away their bayonets and give him some position 
where he could be heard by his fellow citizens, and not by the lead- 
ers alone who had deceived and deluded them, he would speak, but 
not otherwise.' The insurgent officers, fearful of the effect of his de- 
termined manner on the minds of their followers, interrupted. They 



13G JUDGE WARD. [1786. 

did not come there, they said, to listen to long speeches, but to re- 
sist oppression : they had the power to compel submission : and 
they demanded, an adjournment without day. Judge Ward perem- 
torily refused to answer any proposition, unless it was accompanied 
by the name of him by whom it was made. They then desired him 
to fall back : the drum was beat, and the guard ordered to charge. 
The soldiers advanced, until the points of their bayonets pressed hard 
upon the breast of the Chief Justice, who stood as immoveable as a 
statue, without stirring a limb, or yielding an inch, although the steel 
in the hands of desperate men penetrated his dress. Struck with 
admiration by his intrepidity, and shrinking from the sacrifice of 
life, the guns were removed, and Judge Ward, ascending the steps, 
addressed the assembly. In a style of clear and forcible argument, 
he examined their supposed grievances; exposed their fallacy; ex- 
plained the dangerous tendency of their rash measures ; admonish- 
ed them that they were placing in peril the liberty acquired by the 
efforts and sufferings of years, plunging the country in civil war, and 
involving themselves and their families in misery : that the measures 
they had taken must defeat their own wishes ; for the government 
would never yield that to force, which would be readily accorded 
to respectful representations : and warned them that the majesty of 
the laws, would be vindicated, and their resistance of its power aven- 
ged. He spoke nearly two hours, not without frequent interrup- 
tion. But admonition and argument were unavailing : the insur- 
gents declared they would maintain their ground until satisfaction 
was obtained. Judge Ward, addressing himself to Wheeler, advis- 
ed him to suffer the troops to disperse : ' they were waging war, which 
was treason, and its end would be,' he added after a momentary pause, 
' the gallows/' The judges then retired, unmolested, through armed 
files. Soon after, the Court was opened at the United States Arms 
Tavern, l and immediately adjourned to the next day. Orders were 
despatched to the colonels in the brigade to call out their regiments, 
and march, without a moment's delay, to sustain the judicial tribu- 
nals : but that right arm on which the government rests for defence 
was paralyzed : in this hour of its utmost need, the militia shared in 
the disaffection, and the officers reported, that it was out of their 
power to muster their companies, because they generally favored 
those movements of the people directed against the highest civil in- 
stitutions of the state, and tending to the subversion of social order. 
In the afternoon of Tuesday, a petition was presented from Athol, 

1 On the site of the Exchange Coflee House. 1836. 



1786.] COMMITTEES WAIT ON THE COURT. 137 

requesting that no judgments should be rendered in civil actions, 
except where debts would be lost by delay, and no trials had unless 
with the consent of the parties ; a course corresponding with the 
views entertained by the court. Soon after, Capt. Smith of Barre, 
unceremoniously introduced himself to the judges, with his sword 
drawn, and offered a paper purporting to be the petition of ' the body 
of people now collected for their own good and that of the Common- 
wealth,' requiring an adjournment of the courts without day. He de- 
manded, in a threatening manner, an answer in half an hour. Judge 
Ward, with great dignity, replied, that no answer would be given, 
and the intruder retired. An interview was solicited, during the 
evening, by a committee, who were informed that the officers of gov- 
ernment would make no promises to men in hostile array : an in- 
timation was given that the request of the people of At hoi was con- 
sidered reasonable : and the conference terminated. A report of the 
result was made to the insurgents, who voted it was unsatisfactory, 
and resolved to remain until the following day. 

Durincr the night, the Court House was guarded in martial form : 
sentinels were posted along the front of the building, and along Main 
street : the men not on duty, bivouaced in the hall of justice, or sought 
6 1 «'*pr with their friends. In the first light of morning, the whole 
foiL^, paraded on the hill, and was harangued by the leaders. In 
the forenoon, a new deputation waited on the court, with a repe- 
tition of the former demand, and received similar reply. The jus- 
tices assured the committee, if the body dispersed, the people of the 
county would have no just cause of complaint with the course the 
court would adopt. The insurgents, reen forced with about two hun- 
dred from Holden and Ward, now mustered four hundred strong, 
half with fire arms, and the remainder furnished with sticks. They 
formed in column, and marched through Main street, with their 
music, inviting all who sought relief from oppression to join their 
ranks, but receiving no accession of recruits from our citizens, 
they returned to the Court House. Sprigs of evergreen had been 
distributed, and mounted as the distinctive badge of rebellion, and a 
young pine tree was elevated at their post as the standard of revolt. 

The court, at length, finding that no reliance could be placed 
on military support, and no hope entertained of being permitted to 
proceed with business, adjourned, continuing all causes to the next 
term. Proclamation was made by the sheriff to the people, and a 
copy of the record communicated. After this, about two hundred 
men, with sticks only, paraded before the house of Mr. Allen, where 
18 



138 INSURGENTS RETIRE. [1786. 

the justices had retired, and halted nearly an hour, as if meditating 
some act of violence. The main body then marched down, and pas- 
sing through the other party, whose open ranks closed after them, 
the whole moved to the common, where they displayed into line, 
and sent another committee to the court. 

The sessions, considering their deliberations controlled by the 
mob, deemed it expedient to follow the example of the superior tri- 
bunal, by an adjournment to the 21st of November. When the in- 
surgent adjutant presented a paper, requiring it should be without 
fixed day, Judge Ward replied, the business was finished and could 
not be changed. 

Before night closed down, the Regulators, as they styled them- 
selves, dispersed ; and thus terminated the first interference of the 
citizens in arms with the course of justice. Whatever fears might 
have been entertained of future disastrous consequences, their visit 
brought with it no terror, and no apprehension for personal safety 
to their opposers. Both parties, indeed, seemed more inclined to 
hear than strike. The conduct of Judge Ward was dignified and 
spirited, in a situation of great embarrassment. His own depreca- 
tion, that the sun might not shine on the day when the constitution 
was trampled on with impunity, seemed to be realized. Clouds, 
darkness, and storm, brooded over the meeting of the insurgents, 
and rested on their tumultuary assemblies in the county at subse- 
quent periods. 

The state of feeling here, was unfavorably influenced by the suc- 
cess of the insurgents. At a meeting of the inhabitants, on the 
25th of September, delegates were elected to the county convention 
at Paxton, with instructions to report their doings to the town. 
The list of grievances received some slight additions from this as- 
sembly. The delay and expense of Courts of Probate, the manner 
of recording deeds in one general office of registry, instead of en- 
tering them on the books of the town where the land was situated ; 
and the right of absentees to sue for the collection of debts, were 
the subjects of complaint in a petition, concluding with the request 
that precepts might be issued for meetings, to express public senti- 
ment in relation to a revision of the constitution, and if two thirds 
of the qualified voters were in favor of amendment, that a state 
convention might be called. The existence of this body was con- 
tinued by an adjournment to Worcester. The petition was imme- 
diately forwarded to the General Court. A copy was subsequently 
submitted to the town, at a meeting held, October 2, for the purpose 



1786.] TOWN MEETING. PETITIONS. 139 

of receiving a report from the delegates. It was then voted, ' That 
Mr. Daniel Baird be requested to inform the town whether this pe- 
tition was according to his mind, and he informed the town it was : 
but that he did not approve of its being sent to the General Court 
before it had been laid before the town.' The petition was read para- 
graph by paragraph, rejected, and the delegates dismissed. 

On the 16th of October, in compliance with the request of 34 
freeholders, another town meeting was called : after long and warm 
debate, the former delegates were reelected, to attend the conven- 
tion, at its adjourned session. A petition had been offered, praying 
consideration of the measures proper in the alarming situation of 
the country, and for instructions to the representative to enquire 
into the expenditure of public money, the salaries of officers, the 
means of increasing manufactures, encouraging agriculture, intro- 
ducing economy, and removing every grievance. Directions were 
given to endeavor to procure the removal of the Legislature from 
the metropolis to the interior ; the annihilation of the Inferior 
Courts ; the substitution of a cheaper and more expeditious admin- 
istration of justice ; the immediate repeal of the supplementary fund 
granted to congress ; the appropriation of the revenue arising from 
impost and excise to the payment of the foreign debt ; and the with- 
holding all supplies from Congress until settlement of accounts be- 
tween the Commonwealth and Continent. Resolutions, introduced 
by the supporters of government, expressing disapprobation of uncon- 
stitutional assemblies, armed combinations, and riotous movements, 
and pointing to the Legislature as the only legitimate source of re- 
dress, were rejected. The convention party was triumphant by a 
small majority. While the discussion was urged, a considerate cit- 
izen enquired of one of the most zealous of the discontented, what 
grievances he suffered, and what were the principal evils among 
them? ' There are grievances enough, thank God !' was the hasty 
reply, ' and they, are all principal ones.' 

The jurisdiction of the sessions was principally over criminal of- 
fences, and its powers were exercised for the preservation of social 
order. No opposition had been anticipated to its session, on the 
21st of November, and no defensive preparations were made. On 
that day, about sixty armed men, under Abraham Gale of Prince- 
ton, entered the north part of the town. During the evening, and 
on Wednesday morning, about one hundred more arrived, from 
Hubbardston, Shrewsbury, and some adjacent towns. A commit- 
tee presented a petition to the court, at the United States Arms 



140 COUNTY CONVENTION. [1786. 

tavern, for their adjournment until a new choice of representatives,, 
which was not received. The insurgents then took possession of 
the ground around the Court House. When the Justices approach- 
ed, the armed men made way, and they passed through the opening 
ranks to the steps. There, triple rows of bayonets presented to their 
breasts, opposed farther advance. The Sheriff, Col. William Green- 
leaf of Lancaster, addressed the assembled crowd, stating the dan- 
ger to themselves and the public from their lawless measures. Rea- 
soning and warning were ineffectual, and the proclamation in the 
riot act was read for their dispersion. Amid the grave solemnity of 
the scene, some incidents were interposed of lighter character. Col. 
Greenleaf remarked with great severity, on the conduct of the arm- 
ed party around him. One of the leaders replied, they sought re- 
lief from grievances : that among the most intolerable of them was 
the Sheriff himself : and next to his person were his fees, which were 
exorbitant and excessive, particularly on criminal executions. ' If 
you consider fees for executions oppressive,' replied the sheriff, irri- 
tated by the attack, ' you need not wait long for redress; for I will 
hang you all, Gentlemen, for nothing, with the greatest pleasure.' 
Some hand among the crowd, which pressed close, placed a pine 
branch on his hat, and the county officer retired, with the Justices, 
decorated with the evergreen badge of rebellion. The clerk enter- 
ed on his records, that the court was prevented from being held by 
an armed force, the only notice contained on their pages that our 
soil has ever been dishonored by resistance of the laws. 

To this period, the indulgence of government had dealt with its 
revolted subjects as misguided citizens, seduced to acts of violence 
from misconception of the sources of their distress. Conciliatory 
policy had applied remedial statutes wherever practicable, and prof- 
fered full pardon and indemnity for past misconduct. Reasonable 
hopes were entertained that disaffection, quieted by lenient meas- 
ures, would lay down the arms assumed under strong excitement, 
and that reviving order would rise from the confusion. But the in- 
surgents, animated by temporary success, and mistaking the mild- 
ness of forbearance for weakness or fear, had extended their designs 
from present relief to permanent change. Their early movements 
were without further object than to stay that flood of executions 
which wasted their property and made their homes desolate. That 
portion of the community, who condemned the violence of the ac- 
tors in the scenes we have described, sympathized in their sufferings, 
and were disposed to consider the offences venial, while the profess- 



1786.] PREPARATIONS OF GOVERNMENT. 141 

ed purpose of their commission was merely to obtain the delay ne- 
cessary for seeking constitutional redress. All implicated, stood 
on safe and honorable ground, until the renewal, on the 21st of No- 
vember, of the opposition to the administration of justice. Defi- 
ance of the authority of the state, could no longer be tolerated with- 
out the prostration of its institutions. The crisis had arrived, when 
government, driven to the utmost limit of concession, must appeal 
to the sword for preservation, even though its destroying edge, turn- 
ed on the citizen, might be crimsoned with civil slaughter. Infor- 
mation was communicated to the executive of extensive levies of 
troops for the suppression of the judiciary, and the coercion of the 
legislature. Great exertions were making to prevent the approach- 
ing session of the Court of Common Pleas, in Worcester, in the 
first week of December. Gov. Bowdoin and the council, resolved 
to adopt vigorous measures to overawe the insurgents. Orders 
were issued to Major General Warner, to call out the militia of his 
division, and five regiments were directed to hold themselves in in- 
stant readiness to march. Doubts, however, arose, how far reliance 
could be placed on the troops of an infected district. The sheriff 
reported, that a sufficient force could not be collected. The first 
instructions were therefore countermanded, a plan having been set- 
tled to raise an army whose power might effectually crush resistance, 
and the Judges were advised to adjourn to the 23d of January fol- 
lowing, when the contemplated arrangements could be matured to 
terminate the unhappy troubles. 

The insurgents, unapprised of the change of operations, began to 
concentrate their whole strength to interrupt the courts at Worces- 
ter and Concord. They had fixed on Shrewsbury as the place of 
rendezvous. On the 29th of November, a party of forty from Barre, 
Spencer, and Leicester, joined Capt. Wheeler, who had established 
his head quarters in that town during the preceding week, and 
succeeded in enlisting about thirty men. Daniel Shays, the reputed 
commander in chief, and nominal head of the rebellion, made his 
first public appearance in the county soon after, with troops from 
Hampshire. Reenforcements came in, till the number at the post ex- 
ceeded four hundred. Sentinels stopped and examined travellers, and 
patrols were sent out towards Concord, Cambridge, and Worcester. 
On Thursday, November 30, information was received, that the 
Light Horse, under Col. Hitchborn, had captured Shattuck, Parker 
and Paige, and that a detachment of cavalry was marching against 
themselves. This intelligence disconcerted their arrangements for 



142 FORCES OF THE INSURGENTS COLLECT. [1786. 

an expedition into Middlesex, and they retreated, in great alarm, to 
Holden. On Friday, Wheeler was in a house passed by the horse- 
men, and only escaped from being captured by accident. Another 
person, supposed to be commander, was pursued, and received a sa- 
bre cut in the hand. The blow was slight, but afforded sufficient 
foundation for raising the cry that blood had been shed, and rous- 
ing passion to vengeance. The wounded insurgent was exhibited 
and bewailed as the martyr of their cause. As the light horse retir- 
ed, it was discovered they did not exceed twenty. About an hun- 
dred of Shays's men rallied, and returned to Shrewsbury, following 
a foe whose celerity of movement left no cause to fear they could be 
brought to an encounter. Search was made for the town stock of 
powder, removed by the vigilance of one of the selectmen, Col. 
Cushing, whose house they surrounded, and whose person they en- 
deavored to seize, but he escaped. Consultation was held on the 
expediency of marching directly to Worcester, and encamping be- 
fore the Court House. Without clothing to protect them from cold, 
without money, or food to supply the wants of hunger, it was con- 
sidered impracticable to maintain themselves there, and on Satur- 
day, they marched to Grafton, and went into quarters with their 
friends. 

The party left at Holden, found one object of their meeting, the 
junction with the insurgents at Concord, frustrated. Those who 
belonged to the neighboring towns were therefore dismissed, with 
orders to assemble in Worcester on Monday following. Shays re- 
tired to the barracks in Rutland, and sent messengers to hasten on 
the parties from Berkshire and Hampshire, in anticipation of meet- 
ing the militia of government at Worcester. 

On Sunday evening, the detachment from Grafton entered the 
town, under the command of Abraham Gale of Princeton, Adam 
Wheeler of Hubbardston, Simeon Hazeltine of Hardwick, and John 
Williams, reputed to be a deserter from the British army, and once 
a serjeant of the continental line. They halted before the Court 
House, and having obtained the keys, placed a strong guard around 
the building, and posted sentinels on all the streets and avenues of 
the town to prevent surprise. Those who were off duty, rolling 
themselves in their blankets, rested on their arms, on the floor of 
the Court room. 

However the fidelity of Worcester might have wavered, its citi- 
zens had now become aware of the peril of their rights, when the 
mustering power of rebellion was attempting to upheave the foun- 



1786.] MILITIA. CAPT. HOWE. 143 

dations of government. The whole military strength of the town 
rallied to its support. Two full companies of our militia, enrolling 
one hundred and seventy rank and file, paraded on Monday, at the 
South Meeting House, under the senior captain, Joel Howe. In 
the afternoon, they formed in column, and marched down Main 
street. On approaching the United States Arms tavern, the head 
quarters of the insurgents, the drums beat to arms, and their lines 
were formed across the road. Capt. Howe, advancing in slow time, 
sent forward an adjutant to demand by what authority the highways 
were obstructed. A contemptuous answer was returned, that he 
might come and see. Another officer was detached, to order them 
to remove, as the militia intended to pass over the ground they oc- 
cupied : the reply was, they might pass if they could. Capt. Howe 
then halted, and addressed his men in an animating tone, expressing 
his determination to proceed, and his reliance on their intrepidity. 
The bayonets were fixed and the company then advanced : in a 
few paces they came to the position for a charge. The front rank 
of the insurgents stood in readiness to use their muskets, while the 
band of Captain Howe moved steadily down upon their line. For a 
moment, civil war seemed about to drench our streets in blood. Vet- 
erans of the revolution were arrayed on both sides, who had been 
too often amid the shot of battle, to shrink from danger in any form. 
Fortunately, the insurgents were not prepared to stain their cause 
by the slaughter of their brethren. Their line wavered, and break- 
ing, by a rapid wheel, gained a new position on the hill. The mili- 
tia went by their post, to the Hancock Arms, 1 beyond the north 
square. It is doing no injustice to their gallantry to believe, their 
congratulations were sincere on the innocent result of appearances 
so menacing. After brief rest, they returned, and were dismissed, 
until the next morning, with merited commendations. Their spirit- 
ed conduct was productive of salutary effects. It ascertained, that 
their opponents were too apprehensive of consequences to support 
their demands by force, and the dread their formidable array might 
have inspired, was changed to contempt and derision of their pre- 
tensions. 

As the evening closed in, one of the most furious snow storms of 
a severe winter commenced. One division of the insurgents occu- 
pied the Court House : another sought shelter at the Hancock 
Arms. The sentinels, chilled by the tempest, and imagining them- 

1 This building was afterwards the Brown & Butman Tavern, and destroyed by 
fire, Dec. 24, 1824. 



144 INSURGENTS OCCUPY THE TOWN. [1786. 

selves secured by its violence from attack, joined their comrades 
around the fire of the guard room. The young men of the town, in 
the spirit of sportive mischief, contrived to carry away their muskets, 
incautiously stacked in the entryway, and having secreted them at 
a distance, raised the alarm that the light horse were upon them. 
The party sallied out in confusion, and panic struck at the silent dis- 
appearance of their arms, fled through the fast falling snow to the 
Court House, where their associates had paraded. The guns were 
discovered, at length, and the whole force remained, ready for ac- 
tion, several hours, frequently disturbed by the fresh outcries of their 
vexatious persecutors. 

The increasing fury of the storm, and the almost impassible con- 
dition of the road*, did not prevent the arrival of many from Hol- 
den, and the vicinity, on Tuesday, swelling the numerical force of 
malcontents to five hundred. The Court was opened at the Sun 
Tavern, 1 and in conformity with the instructions of the Governor, 
adjourned to the 23d of January, without attempting to transact 
business. Petitions from committees of Sutton and Douglas, that 
the next session might be postponed to March, were disregarded. 

Worcester assumed the appearance of a garrisoned town. The 
citizens answered to the frequent challenges of military guards: the 
traveller was admonished to stay his steps by the voice and bayonet 
of the soldier. Sentries paced before the house of Mr. Allen, the 
clerk, where Judge Ward resided, and the former gentleman was 
threatened with violence on his own threshold. Mr. Justice Wash- 
burn of Leicester, was opposed on his way, and two of his friends, 
who seized the gun presented to his breast, were arrested and de- 
tained in custody. Justice Baker, on his return homeward, was 
apprehended in the road, and some of his captors suggested the 
propriety of sending him to prison, to experience the corrective dis- 
cipline, to which, as a magistrate, he had subjected others. 

On Tuesday evening, a council of war was convened, and it was 
seriously determined to march to Boston, and effect the liberation of 
the state prisoners, as soon as sufficient strength could be collected. 
In anticipation of attack, the Governor gathered the means of de- 
fence around the metropolis. Guards were mounted at the prison, 
and at the entrances of the city : alarm posts were assigned ; and Ma- 
jor General Brooks held the militia of Middlesex contiguous to the 
road, in readiness for action, and watched the force at Worcester. 

1 United States Hotel, 1836, 



1786.] ALARM OF THE INSURGENTS. 145 

During the evening of Tuesday, an alarm broke out, more ter- 
rific to the party quartered at the Hancock Anns, than that which 
had disturbed the repose of the preceding night. Soon after parta- 
king the refreshment which was sometimes used by the military, be- 
fore the institution of temperance societies, several of the men were 
seized with violent sickness, and a rumor spread, that poison had 
been mingled with the fountain which supplied their water. Dr. 
Samuel Steams of Paxton, astrologer, almanac manufacturer, and 
quack by profession, detected in the sediment of the cups they had 
drained, a substance, which he unhesitatingly pronounced to be a 
compound of arsenic and antimony, so deleterious, that a single 
grain would extinguish the lives of a thousand. The numbers of the 
afflicted increased with frightful rapidity, and the symtoms grew more 
fearful. It was suddenly recollected that the sugar used in their bev- 
erage, had been purchased from a respectable merchant of the town, 1 
whose attachment to government was well known, and the sick- 
ness around was deemed proof conclusive that it had been adulterated 
for their destruction. A hie of soldiers seized the seller, and brought 
him to answer for the supposed attempt to murder the levies of rebel- 
lion. As he entered the house, the cry of indignation rose strong. 
Fortunately for his safety, Dr. Green of Ward, an intelligent prac- 
titioner of medicine, arrived, and the execution of vengeance was 
deferred until his opinion of its propriety could be obtained. After 
careful inspection of the suspected substance, and subjecting it to 
the test of different senses, he declared, that to the best of his knowl- 
edge, it was genuine, yellow, scotch, snuff. The reputed dying rais- 
ed their heads from the floor : the slightly affected recovered : the 
gloom which had settled heavily on the supposed victims of mor- 
tal disease was dispelled, and the illness soon vanished. Strict in- 
quiry furnished a reasonable explanation : a clerk in the store of 
the merchant had opened a package of the fragrant commodity, in 
the vicinity of the sugar barrel, and a portion of the odoriferous 
leaf, had, inadvertently, been scattered from the counter into its un- 
covered head. A keg of spirit was accepted in full satisfaction for 
the panic occasioned by the decoction of tobacco so innocently ad- 
ministered. 

Bodies of militia, anxious to testify their reviving zeal, were toil- 
ing through the deep snow drifts. Gen. Warner, finding that no be^ 
nefit could be derived from their presence, sent orders for their return 

1 The late Daniel Waldo, (sen.) Esq. 

19 



\ 



146 CONSULTATIONS OF THE INSURGENTS. [1786. 

to their homes, and the insurgents enjoyed the triumph of holding 
undisputed possession of the town. 

On Wednesday, December (5, they went out to meet Shays, who 
arrived from Rutland, with 350 men. As they reentered the street, 
the appearance of the column of 800 was highly imposing. The com- 
panies included many who had learned their tactics from Steuben, 
and served an apprenticeship of discipline in the ranks of the revolu- 
tion : war worn veterans, who in a good cause, would have been in- 
vincible. The pine tuft supplied the place of plume in their hats. 
Shays, with his aid, mounted on white horses, led on the van. 
They displayed into line before the Court House, where they were 
reviewed and inspected. The men were then billeted on the inhab- 
itants. No compulsion was used : where admittance was peremp- 
torily refused, they quietly retired, and sought food and shelter else- 
where. Provision having been made for the soldiers, Shays joined 
the other leaders in council. At night, he was attended to his quar- 
ters, at the house of the late Col. Samuel Flagg, by a strong guard, 
preceded by the music of the army, with something of the state as- 
sumed by a general officer. Precautions against surprise were re- 
doubled. Chains of sentinels were stretched along the streets, plant- 
ed in every avenue of approach, and on the neighboring hills, ex- 
amining all who passed. The cry of ' all 's well,' rose on the watch- 
es of the night, from those whose presence brought danger to the 
Commonwealth. 

Committees from some of the neighboring towns, and many of 
the prominent members of the conventions, assembled with the mil- 
itary leaders, on Thursday, the 6th of December. Their delibera- 
tions were perplexed and discordant The inclemency of the wea- 
ther had prevented the arrival of the large force expected. The 
impossibility of retaining the men who had assembled, without mu- 
nitions, subsistence, or stores, compelled them to abandon the medi- 
tated attack on Boston, then put in a posture of defence, and more 
pacific measures were finally adopted. A petilion was prepared for 
circulation, remonstrating against the suspension of the habeas cor- 
pus writ ; asking for the pardon and release of the prisoners; a new 
act of amnesty ; the adjournment of courts until the session of the 
new Legislature in May ; and expressing their readiness to lay down 
their arms on compliance with these demands. In the afternoon, 
Shays's men and part of Wheeler's, to the number of 500, began 
their march for Paxton, on their way to the barracks in Rutland. 
About an hundred more retired to the north part of the town. 



1786.] RETREAT OF THE INSURGENTS. 147 

Friday was spent in consultation. Aware that public sentiment 
was setting against them with strong reaction, the mercy which had 
been rejected was now supplicated. Letters were addressed to each 
town of the county, inviting the inhabitants to unite in their peti- 
tions. Shays himself, in a private conference with an acquaintance, 
made use of these expressions : ' For God's sake, have matters set- 
tled peaceably ; it was against my inclinations I undertook this busi- 
ness ; importunity was used which I could not withstand ; but I 
heartily wish it was well over.' 

In the evening, the Court House was abandoned, but sentries 
were posted at almost every door of the outside and interior of the 
public house, where the leaders remained in consultation. 

Another snow storm commenced on Saturday morning. Luke 
Day, with logmen from Hampshire, reached Leicester, but was una- 
ble to proceed in the tempest. About noon, all the insurgents in 
Worcester paraded before their head quarters, and were dismissed. 
The companies of Ward, Holden, Spencer, Rutland, Barre, and Pe- 
tersham, after moving slowly through Main street in distinct bodies, 
took up the line of march for their respective homes, through roads 
choked with drifts. 

The condition of these deluded men during their stay here, was 
such as to excite compassion rather than fear. Destitute of almost 
every necessary of life, in an inclement season, without money to 
purchase the food which their friends could not supply, unwelcome 
guests in the quarters they occupied, pride restrained the exposure 
of their wants. Many must have endured the gnawings of hunger in 
our streets : yet, standing with arms in their hands, enduring pri- 
vations in the midst of plenty, they took nothing by force, and tres- 
passed on no man's rights by violence: some declared they had not 
tasted bread for twenty four hours ; all who made known their sit- 
uation, were relieved by our citizens with liberal charity. 

The forlorn condition of the insurgents was deepened by the dis- 
tresses of their retreat. Their course was amid the wildest revelry 
of storm and wind, in a night of intense cold. Some were frozen 
to death by the way : others, exhausted with struggling through the 
deep and drifted snow, sunk down, and would have perished but for 
the aid of their stouter comrades: when relief was sought among the 
farm houses, every door was opened at the call of misery, and the 
wrongs done by the rebel were forgotten in the sufferings of him 
who claimed hospitality as a stranger. 

The whole number assembled at Worcester never exceeded a 



148 GEN. LINCOLN'S ARMY. [1787. 

thousand. The spirit animating the first movements had grown cold, 
and Shays expressed to an acquaintance here, the impression that 
the cause had hecome gloomy and hopeless In conversation with 
an officer of government, he disclaimed being at the head of the re- 
bellion ; declared he had come to the resolution to have nothing more 
to do with stopping courts : that if he could not obtain pardon, he 
would gather the whole force he could command, and fight to the 
last extremity, rather than be hanged. When asked if he would 
accept pardon were it offered, and abandon the insurgents, he re- 
plied, ' Yes, in a moment.' 1 

The delay of government, while it afforded time to circulate cor- 
rect information among the people, left the insurgents at liberty to 
pursue their measures. The Court at Springfield, on the 26th of 
December, was resisted, and intelligence was received of active exer- 
tions to prevent the session of the Common Pleas, at Worcester, on 
the 23d of January. Longer forbearance would have been weak- 
ness, and vigorous measures were adopted for sustaining the judi- 
ciary. An army of 4400 men was raised from the counties of Suf- 
folk, Essex, Middlesex, Hampshire, and Worcester, for thirty days 
service. General Benjamin Lincoln, whose prudence, and milita- 
ry skill peculiarly qualified him for the important trust, received 
the command. Voluntary loans were made by individuals for the 
armament, pay, and subsistence of the troops. 

On the 21st of January, the army took up the line of march 
from Roxbury. The inclemency of the weather, and the condition 
of the roads rendered a halt necessary at Marlborough. The next 
day, the troops reached Worcester, notwithstanding the effects of 
sudden thaw on the deep snow, and were quartered on the inhabi- 
tants, the houses being thrown open for their shelter and com- 
fort. Here they were joined by the regiments of the county. The 
town contributed its quota liberally. In the company under Capt. 
Joel Howe, were 27 non commissioned officers and privates. In the 

1 The retreat of Shays not only afforded the friends of order occasion for triumph, 
but sport for wit. An Epigram, from one of the prints, affords a specimen of the poe- 
try and jest of the time. The name of the common carriage, the chaise, and that of 
the insurgent leader, had then the same spelling as well as sound. 
' Says sober Will, wpll Shays has fled, 
And peace returns to bless our days. 
Indeed! cries Ned, I always said, 

He 'd prove at last a fall back Shays; 
And those turned over and undone, 
Call him a worthless Shays to run.' 



1787.] AFFAIR AT NEW BRAINTREE. J 49 

artillery, under Capt. William Treadwell, were enrolled 43 of our 
citizens. Nineteen served under Capt. Phinehas Jones. Seven dra- 
goons were embodied in a legionary corps. Lt. Daniel Goulding 
was at the head of a troop of cavalry. The late judge Edward 
Bangs, Timothy Bigelow, afterwards Speaker of the house of Rep- 
resentatives of Massachusetts, and Theophilus Wheeler, Esq. serv- 
ed as volunteers. 

Detachments of insurgents collected at Rutland, New Braintree, 
Princeton, Sterling, and Sutton, but, intimidated by the military, 
hovered at a distance, while the courts proceeded. On the 25th of 
January, Gen. Lincoln hastened westward for the relief of Shep- 
ard, and of the arsenal at Springfield, invested by Shays and Day. 

Major General Warner was left in command at Worcester, with a 
regiment of infantry, a corps of artillery, including Capt. Tread- 
well's company, two field pieces, and a party from the legionary bat- 
talion of volunteer cavalry. Information having been given that a 
body of about two hundred insurgents had assembled at New Brain- 
tree, intercepting travellers and insulting the friends of government, 
twenty horsemen, supported by about 150 infantry in sleighs, were 
sent out, on the night of the 2d of February, to capture or dis- 
perse the disaffected. Upon approaching the place of their destina- 
tion, the cavalry were ordered to advance at full speed to surprise 
the enemy. The insurgents, apprised of the expedition, had aban- 
doned their quarters at the house of Micah Hamilton, and taken post 
behind the walls of the road side, and having fired a volley of mus- 
ketry upon the detachment, fled to the woods : Mr. Jonathan Rice 
of Worcester, a deputy sheriff, was shot through the arm and hand : 
Doct. David Young was severely wounded in the knee : 1 the bri- 
dle rein of Theophilus W 7 heeler, Esq. was cut by a ball. Without 
halting, the soldiers rapidly pursued their way to the deserted head 
quarters, where they liberated Messrs. Samuel Flagg and John 
Stanton of Worcester, who had been seized the day previous, while 
transacting private business at Leicester. Having dispersed those 
who occupied the barracks at Rutland, the next day, the companies 
returned with four prisoners. 

The career of Shays was fast drawing to its close. Driven from 
post to post, he suddenly retired from Pelham to Petersham, where he 
expected to concentrate the forces of expiring rebellion, and make 

1 Dr. Young afterwards recovered £ 1000, in a civil action, against those by whom 
he was wounded. 



150 FORCES OF THE INSURGENTS ROUTED. [1787. 

his final stand. Intelligence of this change of position reached Gen. 
Lincoln at Hadley, February 3d, and he determined, by prompt and 
decisive action, to terminate the warfare. When the troops took up 
the line of inarch, at 8 o'clock, the evening was bright and mild. 
Before morning the cold became intense : the dry and light snow, 
whirled before a violent north wind, filled the paths and rendered 
them almost impassible. The severity of the cold prevented any halt 
for rest or refreshment. At a distance from shelter, without defence 
against the inclemency of the weather, it became necessary to press 
on, without pausing, to the camp occupied by men possessing all 
martial advantages, except courage and a good cause. The heavy 
sufferings of the night were terminated, by the arrival of the troops 
in the very center of Petersham. The followers of Shays, trusting 
to the violence of the storm and the obstructions of the highways, 
rested in careless security. The first warning of danger was from 
the appearance of the advanced guard of the forces of government, 
after a journey of thirty miles, in the midst of their cantonment. 
Had an army dropped from the clouds upon the hill, the consterna- 
tion could not have been greater. Panic struck, the insurgents fled, 
without firing a gun, or offering resistance to soldiers exhausted by 
fatigue, with frozen limbs, and almost sinking under the privations 
and hardships of the severe service. 

Thirty of the citizens of Worcester were in this expedition, and 
shared in the movement, called by Mi not ' one of the most indefati- 
gable marches that ever was performed in America.' Gen. Lincoln 
writes from Petersham, Feb. 4, ' we arrived here about nine o'clock, 
exceedingly fatigued by a march of thirty miles, part of it in a deep 
snow, and in a most violent storm. When this abated, the cold in- 
creased, and a great part of our men were frozen in some part or 
other ; but I hope none of them dangerously so, and that most of 
them will be able to march again in a short time.' The insur- 
gents never again collected in force : independent parties appear- 
ed in different parts of the western counties : but they were soon 
compelled to seek safety by submission, or flight into the neigh- 
boring states. Two or three only, of our townsmen, bore arms with 
Shays. 

The rebellion being terminated, the infliction of some punishment 
for the highest political crime was deemed expedient. Some of 
those who had been in arms against the laws, were brought to trial, 
convicted of treason, and sentenced to death. Henry Gale of 
Princeton, was the only insurgent found guilty of capital offence, 



1787.] INSURGENTS PARDONED. 151 

in this county. 1 On the 23d day of June, at the hour fixed for his 
execution by the warrant, he was led out to the gallows erected on 
the common, with all the solemn ceremony of such exhibitions. A 
reprieve was there read to him, and afterwards full pardon was giv- 
en.- Proceedings for seditious practices, pending against several 
prisoners, were suspended. The mercy of government was finally 
extended to all, who hid been involved in the difficulties and disor- 
ders of the time, upon taking the oath of allegiance to the com- 
monwealth, after some temporary civil discmalifications. 3 



CHAPTER I X. 

Reception of Washington. 1789. Memorial on t lie treaty with England. 1797. Volun- 
teers 1798. Funeral honors to Washington, 1800. Militia volunteer, 1807. Boston 
memorial. 1808. \Varofl8r2. British prisoners. Troops called into service, 1814. 
Visit of Laiayelie, 1824. Amendments ol llie Constitution. Benefactions of Isaiah 
Thomas. Incorporation of Holden ami Ward. Proposed division of the county. 

In the progress of the narrative, we have arrived to that period, 
when the events of the past are so closely connected with the 
feelings of the present, as to impose painful restraint on the course 
of minute recital. The faithful review of the incidents of local his- 
tory from the adoption of the federal constitution, embracing the 

1 The court assigned as his counsel. Levi Lincoln, sen. and James Sullivan. The 
warm support ol government by the former had rendered him obnoxious to the insur- 
gents. During their occupation of the town, ihey sent parties to seize his person, who 
surrounded and searched his house. Seasonably informed of their intentions, he was 
able to disappoint them. 

2 Six were convicted of treason in the county of Berkshire, six in Hampshire^ one in 
Worcester, and one in Middlesex, all of whom received sentence ol i'ea h, but v ere sub- 
sequently pardoned. The only public punishment actually inflicted, except ited 

disqualification from civil or military office, was on a member ol the hi use >>i represen- 
tatives, guilty of seditious words and practices, who was sentem ed to sit on the gallows 
with a rope about his neck, pay a fine of £50, and to be bound to keep the peace and 
be of good behavior for five years. 

3 The facts staled in the foregoing chapter have been derived, from the Worcester 
Magazine, published by Isaiah Thomas, 1786, 1787 Independent Chronicle, Columbian 
Centinel, Minot's History of the Insurrection, Piles in the office of the Secretary of 
State, Correspondence of Levi Lincoln, sen. American Antiquarian Society's MSS. 
Some notice of Daniel Shays will be found in the appendix. 



152 VISIT OF WASHINGTON. [1789. 

struggles of the great parties dividing the community, executed in 
the spirit of independence and impartiality, would be alike useful 
and interesting. But the time has not yet come when the details of 
the contest agitating every village of the country, and kindling strife 
in the relations of social life, can be recorded with freedom and frank- 
ness. The embers of political controversy, long covered over, have 
not been so extinguished, that the annalist may tread with safety 
over the spot where they once glowed. The sons may not hope to 
render unbiassed judgment of the measures of the sires, in scenes of 
intense excitement. When another generation shall have passed 
away, and the passions and irritation of the actors shall exist in 
memory alone, the story may be told faithfully, without fear that in- 
herited partiality or prejudice may lend undue coloring to the pic- 
ture delineated. 

Some particulars of the history of the last half century, insulated 
from those dissentions which have long been quieted and which it 
is not desirable now to recall to recollection, are scattered through 
the space remaining to be traversed. 

In 1789, President Washington visited New England, and was 
received with those demonstrations of gratitude f.nd respect, due to 
his eminent services and exalted virtues. The notice of his arrival 
at Worcester, in the Spy, is characteristic of the style of the times. 

' Information being received on Thursday evening, [October 22] 
that his Highness would be in town the next morning, a number of 
respectable citizens, about forty, paraded before sunrise, on horse- 
back, and went as far as Leicester line to welcome him, and escort- 
ed him into town. The Worcester companv of artillery, command- 
ed by Major Treadwell, were already assembled ; on notice beincr 
given that his Highness was approaching, five cannon were fired, for 
the five New England States ; three for the three in the union ; one 
for Vermont, which will speedily be admitted ; and one as a call 
to Rhode Island to be ready before it be too late. When the Pres- 
ident General arrived in sight of the meeting-house, eleven cannon 
were fired : he viewed with attention the artillery company as he 
passed, and expressed to the inhabitants his sense of the honor done 
him. He stopped at the United States Arms, and breakfasted, and 
then proceeded on his journey. To gratify the inhabitants, he po- 
litely passed through the town on horseback, dressed in a brown 
suit, and pleasure glowed in every countenance ; eleven cannon 
were again fired. The gentlemen of the town escorted him a few 
miles, when they took their leave,' 



1796.] BRITISH TREATY. VOLUNTEERS. 153 

Acceptable as the testimonials of the enthusiastic joy of his fellow 
citizens must have been to the great patriot, the extravagant epithets 
of description comported little with the simplicity and unostentatious 
plainness of his character. 

On the request of a number of the principal inhabitants, a meeting 
was convened, May w 3, 179(5, for the expression of sentiments in re- 
lation to the commercial treaty with England ; a memorial, reported 
by a committee, 1 was adopted and transmitted to the Hon. Dvvight 
Foster, representative of the district in Congress, for presentation. 

' To the honorable House of Representatives of the United States : 
The inhabitants of the town of Worcester, in the county of Worces- 
ter, and state of Massachusetts, sensible that it is not wise in the peo- 
ple in their primary assemblies, to decide confidently on important 
and difficult political questions, or even to use their right of petition- 
ing with design to impose their particular opinions, yet, on the pres- 
ent occasion, when the voice of the people appears to be called for, 
and is going forth to your honorable body from all parts of the union, 
leaving all questions concerning the merits of the treaty with Great 
Britain, take the liberty to suggest, as our opinion, that, considering 
the present state of the treaty already ratified by the President and 
Senate, we believe from a serious impression of duty, and considering 
the happy advantages of peace and neutrality now enjoyed by this 
country, and the alarms, the anxieties, and interruptions to business, 
if not war, that may be the consequences of delaying to carry the 
treaty into effect, it would be best, and we, therefore, beg leave to ex- 
press our wishes, that your honorable house would not delay to make 
appropriations to carry the same into effect.' 

The hostile attitude of France, in 1798, required energetic pre- 
parations for defence. Congress authorized the President, to raise 
troops for the war establishment, and to organize volunteer corps in 
a provisional army, to be called out in case of apprehended invasion, 
or on pressing emergency, but not to receive pay unless in actual 
service. A company of sixty, rank and file, was formed here, un- 
der Capt. Thomas Chandler, called the Worcester Volunteer Cadet 
Infantry, holding themselves in readiness to march on the reception 
of orders. A standard was wrought, and presented to this corps 
by the ladies, with the usual complimentary and patriotic address, 
and received with the accustomed chivalrous expressions of grati- 

1 Edward Bangs, Isaiah Thomas, Samuel Chandler. Benjamin Heywood, and Wil- 
liam Caldwell, 

20 



154 WASHINGTON. LIGHT INFANTRY. [1807. 

tude. The company of artillery joined the forces collected in the 
south part of the county, and was in the bloodless campaign of ' the 
Oxford Army.' A rendezvous was opened here, during the differ- 
ences with the French republic. Some of our citizens enlisted, and 
encamped with the 14th regiment, commanded by Lieut. Col. Rice. 
No opportunity of distinction was afforded by land ; the laurels were 
exclusively gathered from the ocean. 

The town joined in the national honors paid to the memory of 
Washington, on the 22d of February, 1800, the anniversary of the 
birth of the father of his country. The company of cavalry, the 
artillery, cadets, militia, the youth of the schools, and a great con- 
course of citizens, moved with solemn music to the old south church, 
which was hung with black and with emblems of mourning. An 
eloquent eulogy was pronounced, by the Rev. Doct. Bancroft, on the 
virtues of the departed soldier, statesman, and patriot. 

During the political controversies, which, for nearly thirty years, 
divided public opinion in the United States, a decided majority of the 
inhabitants of Worcester, were of the democratic party, when the 
name marked well defined distinction of principles. The leading 
men of the times were ardent politicians, and there were periods of 
excitement, when diversity of sentiment impaired the harmony of so- 
cial intercourse, separated those closely allied by the ties of kindred, 
and dissolved the bonds of ancient friendship. When the feuds and 
animosities of the past have subsided, it excites surprise, that the sur- 
face, now so tranquil, should ever have been agitated by commotions 
as angry as were those which once disturbed its repose. 1 

Conventions of the antagonist parties constantly assembled here, 
and embodied, in their resolutions, the feelings of the times. 

In 1807, after the attack on the Chesapeake, when it was appre- 
hended that hostilities with England would immediately ensue, the 
Worcester Light Infantry, then commanded by Capt. Enoch Flagg, 
tendered their services in defence of the union. At a meeting of 
that military corps, August 4, 1807, it was resolved, unanimously, 
'That in the present exigency of our country, the characters of the 
citizen and the soldier are inseparable ;' and with the same unanim- 
ity, it was voted, 'that we are ready, at a moment's warning, to 
march wherever the executive authority may direct, in defence of 
the independence and integrity of our country, in repelling and 
chastising insult or invasion ; and that, for this purpose, we will 

1 The state of political sentiment will be sufficiently indicated by the list of votes for 
executive officers, in successive years, in the appendix. 



1808.] EMBARGO. 155 

constantly hold ourselves in a state of preparation.' Soon after, the 
company of artillery under Capt. Curtis, two companies of infan- 
try under Capts. Harrington and Johnson, and the company of cav- 
alry of Worcester and the adjacent towns, under Capt. Goulding, 
volunteered to serve as occasion might require. 

The selectmen of Boston, on the 10th of August, 1808, transmit- 
ted a petition, adopted hy the citizens of that place, addressed to 
President Jefferson, praying the suspension of the embargo laws ; 
or, if doubt existed of the competency of the executive for affording 
relief from measures that pressed heavily on commerce, requesting 
that congress might be convened for the purpose of taking the sub- 
ject into consideration. The communication was accompanied with 
an invitation to call a meeting of the inhabitants of the town to ob- 
tain their concurrence in the sentiments expressed by the capital. 
The municipal officers declined compliance with the proposition. 
In their reply they say : ' we deferred returning an answer, because 
we thought we had reason to believe, that there would be found ten 
of our own freeholders, knowing our sentiments and differing from 
us, who, by signifying their desire in writing, would make it our du- 
ty to call such meeting. We can delay no longer a civility due to 
our fellow citizens of the respectable town of Boston. We will, 
therefore, with that friendly freedom which becomes citizens whose 
interests are the same, expose the reasons and sentiments, which for- 
bid us to act, in our official capacity, according to your proposal.' 
Assenting to the constitutional right of the citizens to assemble and 
consult for the common good, cordially concurring in respect for the 
constituted authorities of the country, they depart widely from the 
views of policy entertained by the petitioners, and conclude by de- 
claring, that, ' fully persuaded we have expressed the sentiments of 
a large majority of the inhabitants of this town, in expressing our 
own, we cannot believe it would be satisfactory to them, on this oc- 
casion, at this season of the year, to be called together in town meet- 
ing.' i 

In the same year, the town voted bounties to the soldiers, detached 
in conformity with the act of Congress, March, 30, 1808, as a part 
of the state's quota of 100,000 men, and the Light Infantry again 
tendered their services. 

On the declaration of war with England, in 1812, an act of Con- 

1 The letter is subscribed by Ephraim Mower, Edward Bangs, Nathaniel Harrington, 
Nathan White, Thomas Nichols, Selectmen, and was published in the National JEgis, 
Aug. 24, 1808. 



(56 BRITISH PRISONERS. [1813. 

gress authorized the President to require of the governors of the sev- 
eral states and territories, to take effectual measures to arm, organize, 
and hold in readiness to march on the shortest notice, their respec- 
tive proportions of 100,000 militia. Massachusetts was called on to 
furnish men for the fortresses on the maritime frontier. The execu- 
tive declined compliance with the requisitions, on the ground of con- 
stitutional objections, and the troops of the state were not called to the 
field. The town voted, Nov. 9th, 1ST 2, to allow each soldier detach- 
ed, when mustered and ready to march, ten dollars bounty, in addition 
to the wages. Recruiting officers were stationed here, and some of 
the citizens enlisted in the regular army, or entered the navy, and 
served with various fortune. 

In the summer of 1813, several British officers, captured on the 
northern frontier, were quartered here, on parole. Sir George Pre- 
vost, commanding in Canada, with the sanction of his government, 
selected from the American prisoners of war, and sent to Great Bri- 
tain, for trial as criminals, a number of individuals, who had emi- 
grated from the king's dominions long previous to the war between 
the two nations, become naturalized, and were taken fighting under 
the banners of their adopted country. For the protection of these 
citizens, charged with violation of their duties of allegiance to the 
land of their nativity, an equal number of English subjects were or- 
dered into confinement, to endure the same fate which might befall 
those for whom they were hostages. The effect of this stern meas- 
ure of retaliation was, to induce the enemy to commit to prison two 
American officers, for every one of the British soldiers confined by 
the President, to suffer death if vindictive punishment should be in- 
flicted on the latter. Forty-six British officers, prisoners of war, 
were immediately placed in the prisons, and the Prince Regent was 
informed of the determination of the government to deal with his 
subjects in the same manner in which our citizens in captivity should 
be treated. On the 2d of December, ten of those who had resided 
here, 1 on parole, were committed by the marshal of the district, to the 
jail in Worcester, to abide the issue of this deplorable contest. On 
the 12th of January, nine of these persons succeeded in mak- 
ing their escape, by overpowering and binding the attendant, who 
had entered their room between 10 and 11 o'clock of the evening, 
to secure them for the night. The turnkey was so loosely confined, 

1 Lt. Col. William Grant, of the Beauharnois militia: Maj. Charles Villette, Capt. 
Francis Decenta, Lt. David Duvall, Lt. Albert Manuel, of the Waterville regiment: Lt. 
William A. Steel, Adjutant, Lt. Joseph F. Green, Commissary, 89th regiment: Lt. Ar- 
thur Carter, of the Royal Artillery: Lt. Charles Morris, of the Halifax Volunteers. 



1814.] MARCH OF LIGHT TROOPS. 157 

that he extricated himself in about fifteen minutes, and communi- 
cated information of the flight of the prisoners. Actual invasion 
could scarcely have produced greater commotion : the bells were 
rung and cannon fired at midnight. Vigorous search was prosecu- 
ted in the vicinity, and hot pursuit extended in all directions. In 
the excitement of the time, houses were entered without the formal- 
ity of warrants, and domiciliary visits paid without the justification 
of judicial process, to detect the supposed concealment of the fuo-i- 
tives. About two o'clock the next morning, one of the prisoners 
was apprehended in Holden, nearly exhausted by the labor of trav- 
elling on foot, in an inclement season, after long confinement : four 
more were apprehended the succeeding evenino- in Barre : and four 
succeeded in eluding capture, and reached Quebec in safety. After 
this event, the prisoners were removed. The returning sense of 
justice of their own government, pen, it ted the liberation of gallant 
but unfortunate enemies, from the gloomy prospect of execution, in 
accordance with that necessary, but cruel policy, which holds the 
innocent subject to expiate the sins of the sovereign, and would 
have forfeited life to a contested point of international law. 

In the summer of 1814, two companies of militia were drafted 
from the county, and served on the forts in the vicinity of Boston. 

The capture of Washington, the violations of our territory by the 
British forces, the menace of destruction to the cities and v ill acres of 
the sea board, by the naval commander on the American station, 
while they spread alarm, roused the patriotic spirit of the people to 
vigorous action. Governor Strong, by general orders, September C 
1814, directed the whole of the militia of the state to hold them- 
selves in readiness to march at a moment's warning, and called the 
flank companies of the seventh division into immediate service for 
the defence of the coast. The Worcester Light Infantry and Wor- 
cester Artillery, commenced their march for the metropolis, on Sun- 
day, September 14th. 1 They were stationed at South Boston, and 
remained in camp until the 31st of October following, when they 
were discharged and returned. On the Sabbath following their ar- 
rival at their homes, the members of both corps attended divine ser- 

1 The Officers of the Light Infantry were John W. Lincoln, Captain; Sewall Hamil- 
ton, Lieutenant ; John Coolidge, Ensign : Of the Artillery, Samuel Graves, Captain : 
Simeon Hastings, 1st Lieutenant, Nathan Heard, 2d Lieutenant. The forces at 
South Boston were under the command of Major General Joseph Whiton, of Lee. 
Light companies were detached from the 1st, 2d, 3d, 4th, 5th, 7th and 9th divisions, and 
the artillery of the 3d, 4th, 5th, 7th and 8th divisions, to form the army for the defence of 
Boston. The troops of the seventh division, including Worcester county, now in the 
sixth division, were in the regiment under Col. Salem Towne, jn of Charlton. 



158 VISIT OF LAFAYETTE. [1824. 

vice, in full dress, agreeably to the recommendation of the General 
in command, and offered public acknowledgments for restoration to 
their friends. 

The town voted to procure complete camp equipage for the militia, 
to be kept in readiness for use in actual service, to provide for the 
families of soldiers where assistance was needed, and to furnish any 
inhabitant detached, with arms and equipments, if unable to procure 
them himself. 

As the sound of war went through the land, the veterans of the 
revolution, persons exempted from military duty by age or office, 
and the youth, formed themselves, in many towns of the county, 
into volunteer corps, and prepared to strike for their homes and 
their rights. The step of an invader oii the New England soil, 
would have found her yeomanry as prompt to answer the summons 
to battle, as in the glorious days of old. 

The ratification of the treaty of peace was celebrated with fes- 
tive rejoicing. 

Gen. Lafayette, during his visit to America, in the journey which 
resembled a triumphal progress through the land, arrived at Wor- 
cester, September 2d, 1824. lie was received on the northern 
boundary of the town by a deputation from the committee of the 
citizens, and escorted by two companies of cavalry, a regiment of 
the light troops of the division, and a great concourse of the people 
of the county. From hoary age to lisping childhood, all were ea- 
ger to manifest affection and respect for the guest of the nation. 
He passed through crowded streets ; between lines of the children 
of the schools, ranged under the care of their teachers, who scat- 
tered laurels in his path; beneath arches inscribed with his own 
memorable words and with the names of the scenes of his signal 
services ; amidst companions who had borne arms with him in the 
army of independence ; and through the multitudes who had gath- 
ered from the vicinage to greet the return of the friend of their fa- 
thers. 

Abraham Lincoln, Levi Lincoln, and Edward D. Bangs, were 
elected delegates to the convention which was convened in 1820, 
for the amendment of the state constitution. Of the articles adopted 
by this body, November 15, 1820, and submitted to the people, nine 
were approved and adopted, April 9, 1821. The inhabitants of 
Worcester refused to ratify the 5th article, relating to the organiza- 
tion of the council and senate, providing that every town, having a 
population of 1200, should be entitled to one representative, and 



1831.] CONSTITUTION. DOCT. THOMAS. 159 

establishing 1200 as the ratio of increased representation : and the 
10th, concerning the rights and privileges of Harvard College. 1 

The amendment numbered as the 10th in the Revised Statutes, 
changing the commencement of the political year from the last 
Wednesday of May, to the first Wednesday of January, adopted by 
the legislatures of 1829-30, and 1830-31, was accepted by the peo- 
ple, May 11, 1831. The votes here were, 14(5 for, 11 against. 

The amendment numbered as 11 in the volume referred to, mod- 
ifying and altering the third article of the bill of rights, having 
passed the legislatures of 1832, 1833, was accepted by the citizens, 
Nov. 11, 1833. Two hundred and forty six votes were given by 
the inhabitants of Worcester in the affirmative ; fifty five in the 
negative. 

By his last will, Doct. Isaiah Thomas, devised to the town of Wor* 
cester, a lot of land on Thomas street, on the conditions, ' that the 
town should erect, within three years from the testator's decease, a 
Charity House, and pay annually to the overseers of the poor, twen- 
ty dollars, to be appropriated towards providing for poor persons who 
might be there maintained, on thanksgiving days, a good and liber- 
al dinner suitable for the occasion, and to furnish on that day, half 
a pint of common but good wine for each person, or a reasonable 
quantity of such other liquors as any of them might prefer, that 
they might have the means of participating with their more affluent 
neighbors in some of the essential good things of life bestowed by 
a bountiful Providence, and be enabled to unite in grateful orisons 
for the peace and felicity of our country.' If the whole sum should 
not be required for the kind purpose indicated by the donor, the 
residue was to be expended in the purchase of books for the chil- 
dren of poor parents, or otherwise appropriated at the discretion of 
the trustees. The inhabitants, having already provided, at great ex- 
pense, ample accommodations for the indigent, although duly ap- 
preciating the benevolent intentions of the testator, were compelled 
to decline the acceptance of the benefaction, Nov. 14, 1831, on 
the condition imposed of erecting new buildings. 

1 The votes of the town on the several amendments were as follows : 

Art. Yeas. Nays. Art. Yeas. Nays. 

1 .... 106 ... 99 3 191 ... 12 

2 . . • . 161 . . . 41 9 161 ... 41 

3 .... 177 ... 34 10 61 . • . 140 

4 .... 155 . . • 46 11 161 ... 41 

5 .... 64 ... 139 12 • . . • • 166 . . . 37 

6 .... 143 ... 39 13 ..... 166 . • . 37 

7 .... 133 ... 70 14 156 ... 46 



1G0 SEPARATION OF HOLDEN. [1722. 

The donation by the same liberal individual, of a lot, extending 
172 feet on the north side of Thomas street, and 169 feet on Sum- 
mer street, including the ancient burial place, for the erection of a 
large school house, was accepted, and the condition of the bequest 
complied with, by the completion of a suitable edifice. 

The sum of $2500 was granted by the town, April 21, 1830, to 
be appropriated for the purchase of the site of the Lunatic Hospital, 
and given to the Commonwealth. 

In the narrative of events in the civil and municipal history of 
the town, notice of the divisions made during the period we have 
passed, has been reserved for the purpose of collecting the territo- 
rial changes into a connected view. 

The plantation of Quinsigamond, as originally granted and sur- 
veyed, extended nearly twelve miles from north to south, and six 
miles from east to west. 1 It was designed to include within the 
boundaries established, the same quantity of land which would have 
been comprehended in a tract eight miles square. Extreme liberality 
of admeasurement greatly enlarged the proposed area. In 1684, it 
was directed, that the whole township should be divided into 480 
lots, 200 to be set off adjoining the northern boundary. A line was 
drawn corresponding with this arrangement, separating the town. 
The north part of the lots long remained unoccupied. In 1722, a 
meeting of the owners, holding as tenants in common, was conven- 
ed by the warrant of Stephen Minot, Esq. and a distinct proprietary 
erected, called North Worcester. It was determined to make parti- 
tion of the lands: surveys were commenced in 1724 : tracts were re- 
served for public uses: and grants to settlers registered. It was 
provided, that Col. Adam Winthrop, ' for his good services done the 
town, shall have the first pitch.' The planters, in 1730, were ex- 

1 As stated on the original plan, the north and south lines were 1920 rods each : the 
east line 3815 : the west 37G0. The Rev. Mr. Whitney, History of Worcester County, 
25, says, ' Worcester is part of a tract of land called by the aborigines, Quinsigamond: 
which territory was esteemed by them to bound, easterly partly on Quinsigamond pond 
and partly on Hassanamisco, now Grafton : southerly, on the Nipnet or Nipmug country, 
where Oxford and some adjacent towns now are: westerly on Quaboag, now Brookfield, 
and lands in that vicinity; and northerly on Nashawogg, now Lancaster, Sterling, <Scc.' 
No evidence now remains to verify the assertion that Worcester waspart of this territory. 
On the contrary, all the memorials which exist at this day, show that the aboriginal name 
was applied to the waters of the lake and the country immediately adjacent, and that it 
was borrowed by the committee of settlement, and bestowed upon the plantation, after- 
wards Worcester. The venerable father of county history was mistaken in Indian geog- 
raphy, when he limited the Nipmug country to the southern towns. The best authori- 
ties declare that its boundaries were much wider. 



1~~8.] COUNTRY GORE. WARD. 1(51 

empted from town rates in the south part, for seven years, on con- 
dition of making and maintaining their own highways. The town 
voted, in 1740, to consent to the incorporation, ' if it be the pleas- 
ure of the Great and General Court, in consideration of the great 
distance from the place of public worship.' 

An act of the Legislature, giving corporate powers, passed Novem- 
ber 2, 1740, and North Worcester became a town, by the name of 
Holden, in honor of the Hon. Samuel Holden, a director of the Bank 
of England, whose elevated character and beneficent exertions to 
promote the interests of literature and religion, well merited the to- 
ken of respectful and gratefid recollection. The first town meeting 
was held, May 4, 1741. 

Between Worcester, and that part of Sutton now Grafton, a tract 
of land intervened, called the Country Gore, beyond the jurisdic- 
tion of either municipality. The owners and inhabitants of this ter- 
ritory petitioned to be annexed to Worcester. It was voted, March 
3, 1743, ' that the town cheerfully accept of this offer, and pray they 
be joined to, and for the future be accounted as a part of the town 
of Worcester, to do duty and enjoy equal privileges with us, if it may 
be consistent with the wisdom of the Great and General Court to 
grant their request.' A resolve of Massachusetts, April 5, 1743, 
united the petitioners and their estates to this town. 1 

Another accession of inhabitants was gained, June 2, 1758, when 
James Hart. Thomas Beard, James Wallis, and Jonathan Stone were 
set off from Leicester. 

The slight additions to population were more than balanced by 
another dismemberment. June 23, 1773, a precinct was erected, ex- 
tending three miles into Worcester, three into Oxford, three into Lei- 
cester, and one mile and a half into Sutton, measured from the place 
designated for the new meeting house, along the roads then trav- 
elled. This district, which was denominated the South Parish of 
Worcester, was incorporated, April 10, 1778, as the town of Ward, 
receiving its name from Artemas Ward, Esq. a brave general of 
the revolution, member of the Council of the Provincial Cono-ress 
judge of the County Courts, and representative in Congress. About 
thirty families were thus separated from Worcester. The boun- 
daries of the parish and new town were nearly, though not precisely 
coincident. The act provided, that certain individuals, included 
by the latter, but not within the limits of the former, might retain 

1 The petitioners were, John Barber, Thomas Richardson, Daniel Boyden, Jonas 
Woodard, Ephraim Curtis, Jabez Totman, Matthias Rice, Timothy Green. 

21 



162 PROPOSED DIVISION OF THE COUNTY. [1785. 

their relations to the towns of their original settlement, until it was 
their pleasure to express, in writing, intention to unite with the new 
corporation. Ten persons* by this exception, were permitted to con- 
tinue their former connections. In 1826, Thaddeus Chapin and ten 
others petitioned the Legislature to reannex the territory in which 
their estates were situated to Worcester ; their request was refused : 
and this town still has citizens exercising rights and subject to du- 
ties within the lines of Ward. 

The erection of a precinct, and the incorporation of a town, were 
strenuously resisted. Long and earnest remonstrances opposed the 
proceedings in each stage, and the separation was effected by per- 
severing efforts, renewed and pressed in successive years. 

In 1785 a petition of James Ball and others was presented to the 
General Court, praying for the erection of a new county, of which 
Petersham should be the shire town. Hardwick, Barre Hubbard- 
ston, Petersham, Templeton, Winchendon, Athol, and Royalston, 
were to be separated from the county of Worcester, and Warwick, 
Wendell, New Salem, Shutesbury, the district of Orange, and Green- 
wich from Hampshire. Orders of notice were issued, but the prop- 
osition shared the fate of similar projects to diminish the integrity of 

our territory. 

A memorial of the delegates of Templeton, Barre, Petersham, 
\thol Winchendon, Hubbardston, Oakham, Gerry, Gardner, Roy- 
alston and Warwick, at the January session of the Legislature in 
1798 prayed for the incorporation of those towns into a new county. 
The people, in April, voted that it was inexpedient to divide Wor- 
cester into two distinct counties. 

' At the annual meetings in April, 1828, the question was submit- 
ted by the Legislature, to the people of Worcester and Middlesex, 
shall a new county be formed of the towns of Royalston, Winchen- 
don Athol, Templeton, Gardner, Westminster, Ashburnham, Fitch- 
buro- Leominster, Lunenburg, Princeton, Hubbardston, Ph.l.pston, 
Lan°c'a«ter Bolton, and Harvard, from the county of Worcester; 
Groton Shirley, Peppered, Ashby, and Townsend, from the county 
of Middlesex, as was prayed for in a petition bearing the name of 
Ivers Jewett at the head ? The decision was in the negative, by a 
great majority of the voters. 

i Samuel Curtis, Mary Bigelow, William Elder, Daniel Bigelow, John Elder, Jon- 
athan Fiske, Benjamin Chapin, Eli Chapin, Joseph Clark, Moses Bancroft. 



163 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 



CHAPTER X. 

First Parish. First meeting houses. Rev. Andrew Gardner. Difficulties on his dis- 
mission. Mr. Bourne. Rev. Isaac Burr. Visit of Wliitefield. Church Covenant, 
174G. Rev. Thaddeus Maecarty. Controversy about church music. Seating the 
meeting house. Difficulties ending in the separation of the Second Parish. Mr. 
Story. Rev. Samuel Austin. Church Covenant. Rev. Charles A. Goodrich. 
Rev. Aretius B. Hull. Rev. Rodney A. 3Iiller. Presbyterian Church, 1719. Rev. 
Edward Fitzgerald. Rev. William Johnston. 

No records of the early days of the church in Worcester have 
descended to our times. The knowledge possessed in relation to its 
organization and proceedings, previous to 1722, is derived from tra- 
dition. Subsequent to that period, some information of the promi- 
nent events in our ecclesiastical history, may be collected from the 
votes of the inhabitants concurrent with the acts of the church : for 
it was the ancient usage of all our towns, before they had been di- 
vided into parishes, to manage their parochial concerns in the gen- 
eral meetings. 

The committee of grantees, in their covenant with the first plan- 
ters, provided, that care should be taken to procure a teacher of 
morality and religion, as soon as might be ; and until regular in- 
struction should be obtained, directed, that the Lord's day should be 
sanctified, by assembling together for devotional exercises. Liberal 
grants of land were made for the support of the ministry, and a lot 
appropriated for the first learned, pious, and orthodox teacher of 
religion. 

Meetings for worship were held at the dwelling houses most con- 
venient in regard to central situation. Each man repaired to the as- 
sembly with his gun, and joined in the peaceful exercises as com- 
pletely armed as if prepared for instant military service. 1 Sentinels 

1 In 1675, the colony court ordered, ' that every man that comes to meeting on the 
Lord's day, bring with him his arms, with at least six charges of powder and shot : also, 
that whosoever shall shoot off a gun, at any game whatsoever, except at an Indian or a 
wolf, shall forfeit 5s. on such default until further order.' 



104 FIRST PARISH. [1719. 

were stationed around to give warning of approaching danger. The 
well known custom of the Indians, whose prowling bands selected 
the rest of the Sabbath, in many instances, for their murderous inva- 
sions, rendered vigilance and precaution necessary for safety. Tra- 
dition relates, that the devotions of the planters were sometimes dis- 
turbed by alarms of the coming foe. On one occasion, an arrow, 
directed against the dwelling where they had assembled, entered the 
loop hole which served for window. The protecting Providence of 
God averted its point from his servants, and gliding over the congre- 
gation, it struck deep in the timbers of the opposite wall. 

Soon after the last permanent settlement, a church was gathered, 
and Deacons Daniel Hey wood, and Nathaniel Moore, elected its 
officers. 

A plain and rude structure of logs was erected for the public 
meetings of the inhabitants, in 1717, eastward from the Baptist meet- 
ing house, at the junction of Franklin and Green streets, and was 
occupied during a few years for worship. 

In 1719, a more spacious and commodious house was commenced, 
on the common, near the site of the present edifice. 

In the autumn of the same year, the Rev. Andrew Gardner, ordain- 
ed as the first settled minister of the Gospel, formed that connection 
with the town, terminating in acrimonious controversy, and embit- 
tering the harmony of the people of his charge. On his settlement 
a gratuity of £60 was voted. The amount of salary can only be in- 
ferred from the fact, that in 1722, taxes of c£40, of the then curren- 
cy, were levied, for the support of public worship in that year. Dif- 
ficulties between the church and pastor soon arose. Complaints, 
probably reasonable, were made by him of neglect in the payment of 
his annual stipend, and of refusal to discharge the grant made on his 
acceptance of the office. He was accused of remissness in the per- 
formance of duty, and of too ardent love for the chase of the deer, 
and the sports of the hunter. The dissatisfaction so much increas- 
ed, that some, who had united in the invitation to Mr. Gardner, with- 
drew from attendance on his preaching, and declined contributing to 
his maintenance. Petitions were presented to the Legislature for 
direction and relief, but without effect. In September, 1721, an ec- 
clesiastical council was convened from seven churches : but its result 
was ineffectual for the settlement of the unhappy differences which 
existed. Recourse was afterwards had to other advisers, with as lit- 
tle beneficial influence. New petitions having been presented, a re- 
solve was passed by the General Court, June 14th, 1722, ' that it be 



1722.] REV. ANDREW GARDNER. J Go 

earnestly recommended to that council only of the seven churches 
which did meet at Worcester, in September, 1721, to whom the 
contending parties submitted their differences, relating to the Rev. 
Andrew Gardner, that the said council proceed and goto Worcester, 
on or before the first Wednesday of September next, to finish what 
is further necessary to be done for the procuring and establishing of 
peace in the said town, according to the submission of the parties.' 

On the 10th of August following, the inhabitants represented, 
' that the elders and messengers of the several churches, appointed 
to meet at Worcester, for deciding the differences in that church, 
decline going thither by reason of the rupture with the Indians, it 
being a frontier place : it was therefore recommended that the min- 
isters meet at Dedham, for the affair aforesaid.' 

The council met, pursuant to this direction, and after mature de- 
liberation, advised that the relations of Mr. Gardner be dissolved, 'his 
temporal interest being secured,' and on the 31st of October, 1722, 
he was dismissed from the ministerial office in Worcester. Soon 
after, a suit at law was instituted by Mr. Gardner, for the arrears of 
salary. The irritation occasioned by the long controversy was in- 
creased by this unfriendly act at parting, and a vote was passed, 
against the remonstrance and protest of many of the elder inhabit- 
ants, not to allow the grant of sixty pounds formerly bestowed as a 
gratuity, which he had ' left to the generosity of the town.' An ac- 
commodation was at length effected by mutual arbitrators. 

The Rev. Andrew Gardner was a native of Brookline, Mass. and 
graduated at Harvard University, 1712. His name is last on the 
list of the class, in the period when the pupils of the venerable insti- 
tution at Cambridge were entered on its catalogue according to the 
honors and station in society of the parents. After his removal from 
Worcester, he was installed as the first minister of Lunenburg, Mass. 
May 15, 1728. This connection was as unfortunate in its termina- 
tion as his earlier engagement. He was dismissed, February 7, 
1731-2, ' because.' says the Rev. Mr. Adams, ' he was unworthy.' 
Mr. Gardner then retired to one of the towns on Connecticut river, 
where he died at an advanced age. * 

The errors of Mr. Gardner seem to have been more of the head 
than heart. Eccentricities, resulting from secluded habits, and igno- 
rance of the ways of the world, united with that independence of spirit 
regardless of its opinions, diminished his usefulness. Less mindful 
of clerical dignity than of the exhibition of wit in its practical sports, 

1 Whitney's History of Worcester County, 144. 150. 



16G FIRST PARISH. [1724. 

the strict sense of propriety was sometimes shocked by acts in them- 
selves innocent. Tradition relates, as illustrative of manner, that he 
once secretly substituted a large stone for the better food in the pot 
of a friend who had invited him to dine, and consoled himself for 
the loss of his dinner, by the gratification of witnessing the aston- 
ishment created by the appearance of the unusual dish of boiled 
granite. Whatever imperfections marred his reputation, his benev- 
olence and charity should be permitted to spread their mantle over 
his errors. Pecuniary embarrassment sometimes arose from gener- 
osity that would not hesitate to count cost. An instance of its ex- 
tent is preserved : A poor parishioner having solicited aid in circum- 
stances of distress, the clergyman gave away his only pair of shoes for 
his relief, and as this was done on Saturday, appeared the next day 
in his stockings, at {he. desk, to perform the morning service, and, 
in the evening, officiated in borrowed slippers, a world too wide for 
his slender members. 1 

January 6, 1724, an invitation was given to the Rev. Shearjashub 
Bourne to become the minister of the town, with a settlement of 
£ 100, and a salary of =£75 for five years, afterwards to be raised 
to £ 80. Although the offer was declined, he continued to preach 
for a i~e\v months. 

This gentleman was the son of Hon. Melatiah Bourne, of Sand- 
wich, and descended from the first emigrant to that town. He 
graduated at Harvard College in 1720, and was married to Abigail, 
the daughter of Rev. Richard Cotton of Sandwich. He was or- 
dained in Scituate, Mass. Dec. 1724. His health becoming impair- 
ed by paralytic affections, he was dismissed in 1761. From an in- 
scription on the head stone over a grave in the east burial place in 
Roxbury, it appears that he died there, Aug. 14, 1708, aged 69. ~ 
His character is briefly delineated in the following lines on the time 
worn monument. 

' Cautious himself, he others ne'er deceived, 
Lived as he taught, and taught as he believed.' 

Between the dismission of Mr. Gardner and the settlement of his 
successor, the Rev. Samuel Jennison, son of Hon. William Jenni- 
son of Worcester, who died in that part of Sudbury now Wayland, 
October 14, 1729, aged 29, Mr. Fitzgerald, and Mr. Richardson, 

1 Relation of Mr. Daniel Goulding. 
* MSS. of Samuel Jennison, Esq. Town Records. 2 Hist. Col. iv. 234. 



1725.] REV. ISAAC BURR. 167 

were employed to preach occasionally. The sum of <£2. 3s. was 
paid to them for the services of the sabbath. 

On the 24th of August, 1724, the church elected the Rev. Tho- 
mas White to be their pastor : the town, however, did not concur in 
the choice, but appointed a committee, ' to address Mr. White for his 
further assistance in the work of the gospel.' He was afterwards or- 
dained minister of the first church in Bolton, Conn. Oct. 25, 1725, 
where he died, Feb. 22, 17G3. 

Soon after, the Rev. Isaac Burr was engaged to supply the pul- 
pit, and on the 10th of February, 1725, was invited to assume the sa- 
cred office, with a settlement of 200 pounds in money, or the value 
in land, and the annual salary of 80 pounds. The call having been 
accepted, he was ordained on the 13th of October following. The 
churches in Hartford, Framingham, Marlborough, Lancaster, Lei- 
cester, Sudbury, Weston, and Shrewsbury, were requested to render 
their assistance at the ceremony ; and the sum of ten pounds was ap- 
propriated for the entertainment of the elders, messengers, and dele- 
sates attending- 

The ministry of Mr. Burr was long, and peaceful, until near its 
close. The votes in relation to pecuniary supplies, evince the cor- 
dial regard of his parishioners. The taxes not being regularly paid, 
it was voted, September 25, 1727, ' That the inhabitants contribute, 
once a month, on the Lord's day, after divine service, for the sup- 
port of the minister, until a rate can properly be made; each person 
to paper up his money, and subscribe his name on the paper ; so that 
an account may be taken of each person's money, to be allowed on 
his rate, when made.' The paper currency of the province, having 
depreciated in the fluctuations which diversify its history, frequent 
voluntary contributions were made for the minister. In answer to 
the petition of Mr. Burr, it was voted, October 24, 1732, ' that the 
town cheerfully grant him £ 20, and earnestly desire he would lay 
the same out in purchasing an addition to his library.' Successive 
grants of money were made, as is expressed, ' to encourage him.' 
The salary had been raised to £ 140, in bills of credit. The insta- 
bility and depreciation of this medium, rendered a more certain 
standard of compensation necessary. In 1741. the inhabitants voted, 
' to make the salary equal to what money was at the time of his set- 
tlement, having regard to the difference between silver and paper :' 
29 shillings of the latter being estimated as equivalent to an ounce 
of the former. 

The celebrated Whitefield, whose splendid eloquence seemed al- 



1CS VISIT OF WHITEFIELD. [1740. 

most the gift of inspiration, controlling the judgment, and swaying 
the feelings of men at pleasure, went through New England, during 
his second visit, preaching to congregations gathering, by the acre, 
beneath the open sky. in numbers no house could contain. On his 
way to New York, this powerful exhorter arrived in Worcester, Oct. 
14, 1740, accompanied by Gov. Belcher, whose mind had been deep- 
ly impressed by the glowing elocution which had roused thousands. 
The account of their reception is in Whitefield's continuation of the 
journal of his evangelical labors. 

' 1740. Tuesday, Oct. 14. Got to Marlborough, eight miles from 
Sudbury, about 4 : preached in the meeting house, to a large con- 
gregation. At first, my heart was dead, and I had little freedom ; but 
before I had finished, the word came, with such a demonstration of 
the spirit, that great numbers were much melted down. When I 
came into the meeting house, I turned about, and, to my surprise, 
found Gov. Belcher there. He was affected, and though it rained, 
and he was much advanced in years, yet he went with us as far as 
Worcester, 15 miles from Marlborough, whither we got about 8, at 
night. Here we were kindly entertained, at the house of Col. Chan- 
dler. We spent the remainder of the evening very agreeably, with 
the governor, and after prayer, retired to rest. Oh, that I may ap- 
prove myself a disciple of that master, who, while tabernacling here 
on earth, had not where to lay his head. 

' Wednesday, Oct. 15. Perceived the governor to be more affection- 
ate than ever. After morning prayer, he took me by myself, kissed 
me, wept, and exhorted me to go on stirring up the ministers ; ' for/ 
said he, ' reformation must begin at the house of God.' As we were 
going to meeting, says he, ' Mr. Whitefield, do not spare me any more 
than the ministers : no, not the chief of them.' I preached in the 
open air, on the common, to some thousands; the word fell with 
weight indeed ; it carried all before it. After sermon, the governor 
said to me, ' I pray God I may apply what has been said to my own 
heart. Pray Mr. Whitefield, that I may hunger and thirst after right- 
eousness.' Dinner being ended, with tears in his eyes he kissed, and 
took leave of me. Oh, that we may meet in heaven. I have obser- 
ved that I have had greater power than ordinary whenever the gov- 
ernor has been at public worship. A sign, I hope, that the Most High 
intends effectually to bring him home and place him at his right hand. 

.... Was enabled much to rejoice in spirit Preached at 

Leicester, in the afternoon, 6 miles from Worcester, with some, 
though not so much power as in the morning.' 



l"44.] REV. ISAAC BURR. 1<>9 

The health of Mr. Burr having become impaired, and differences 
having arisen, he was desirous of relinquishing the office he had held 
during twenty years. In Nov. 1744, a mutual council was conven- 
ed. The result, advising separation, met with the almost unanimous 
acquiescence of church and parish, and Mr. Burr was dismissed, in 
March, 1745. 

The Rev. David Hall, of Sutton, seems to have been instrumen- 
tal in originating the difficulties which led to the dismission of Mr. 
Burr. The following passages from his diary, 1 throw much light on 
the subject. Dr. Hall was a follower of Whitelield. 

' Jan. 22, 1742, O. S. Preached this week twice at Worcester, 
in private houses. Mr. Burr gave his consent before I went : but 
seemed not pleased at my coming, as I was informed. I am griev- 
ed at my heart, to observe the violent opposition made against the 
work of God in the land, by those that are called his servants. But 
this I know, that wherein they deal proudly, the Lord is above them. 
I find much deadness of heart, for the most part : but when preach- 
ing the blessed gospel, my soul hath, of late, by times, felt all on fire : 
and I humbly trust the fire is from God's altar. ' Feb. 7. I am in 
great concern about religious matters, Mr. Burr of Worcester, re- 
fusing the urgent request of some people of Worcester, to hear me 
preach again with them. God seems to have blessed my poor labors 
lately among them, for the awakening of some of them. But oh ! 
the prejudice of Mr. B. who is, I fear, too much a stranger to the 
power of godliness, or otherwise, surely, he would rejoice in having 
his people in concern about their souls, and in the help of such min- 
isters as wish their salvation. Oh that the Lord would forgive him 
and open his eyes, and strengthen me, his poor unworthy worm, to 
be valiant in following the rules of my dear Redeemer. 

' Nov. 39, 1744. This week Mr. Burr and the church part, under 
the direction of a council. The Lord stir up ministers to faithful- 
ness by such providences. ' 

Mr. Bliss of Concord, one of the most distinguished"of the clergy, 
who, in that day, were denominated new lights, occasionally preached 
to the separatists at Worcester, ' where he had been requested by a 
multitude of souls,' in the bold, zealous, and impassioned style he 
had adopted. 3 

The Rev. Isaac Burr, a graduate of Yale College, in 1717, was 
born in Fairfield, Conn, in 1C98, and descended from an ancient 
family. His father, Hon. Peter Burr, of Harvard College, 1690, was 

1 American Antiquarian Society's MSS. 2 Shattuck's Hist, of Concord, 175. 

22 



170 FIRST PARISH. [1744. 

in the magistracy from 1703, twenty one years ; judge of Probate for 
Fairfield county ; judge of the Superior Court of Connecticut, from 
the first establishment in 1711, to 1717, and from 1722 to his death, 
Dec. 25, 1724. 1 After his dismission, Mr. Burr removed from Wor- 
cester to Windsor in Vermont. 

The difficulty experienced in procuring a successor to Mr. Burr is 
apparent from the instructions of the town to the committee appoint- 
ed to supply the pulpit. Dec. 1744, they were directed ' to inter- 
cede with the reverend Elders of the late council to preach, each one 
day.' March, 1745, they were charged ' to use their utmost endeav- 
or that the town be not destitute of preaching on the Lord's day ; to 
procure Mr Townsend if to be had ; if not, to consult with the Rev. 
President Holyoke, of Harvard College, Professor Appleton, and Dr. 
Wigglesworth, who to engage in a probationary way.' In May, they 
were desired to procure two more gentlemen for the same purpose, 
with the advice of the Rev. President and Professors ; and it was vot- 
ed, ' that when they had been heard, the church should proceed to the 
choice from them and the three gentlemen who had already preach- 
ed, Mr. Stephens, Mr. Marsh, and Mr. Phillips, and that the town 
will hear no more persons before a choice is made.' 

On the 29th of August, 1745, Mr. Nathaniel Gardner of Harvard 
College, 1739, received an invitation to settle on a salary of £ GO in 
bills of credit, and with a gratuity of £ 100 of the same currency, 
which was declined. 

In the state of uncertainty and doubt which prevailed, it was vot- 
ed, to request the Rev. Mr. Peabody, and Mr. Rogers of Littleton, 
to assist ' in carrying on a day of fasting and prayer, Feb. 28, 1746, 
to implore the divine direction in the church's leading in the choice 
of a person to be ordained.' On the 9th of May following, unani- 
mous and earnest desire was expressed, that the Rev. Mr. Appleton 
of Cambridge, Mr. Williams of Waltham, and Mr. Turell of Med- 
ford, give their best advice, ' who they may judge proper to hear 
in order for a gentleman's being called to settle among us in case 
he can be obtained ; and to advise whether all those male persons 
who are in full communion with other churches, and have removed 
hither should be permitted to vote in the choice, provided there 

1 The Rev. Aaron Burr, born in Fairfield, 1714, of Yale College 1735, the learned 
President of the College at Princeton in New Jersey, was son of Jutlge Peter Burr. 
He died 1757, aged 43, leaving one daughter, who married the Hon. Tappan Reeves, 
a distinguished jurist, and one son, the celebrated Aarou Burr, late Vice President of 
the United States. MSS. Letter of Rev. Dr. Harris. 



1746.] CHURCH COVENANT. 171 

be no just objection.' A committee was delegated to wait on the 
selected advisers, c and desire they would condescend to serve us 
herein.' In the interval between asking and obtaining counsel, hav- 
ing arrived to conclusions of their own, the opinions they^had form- 
ed were adopted instead of those they obtained ; on the 17th of 
October, ' the vote was put, whether the church would adhere to the 
advice of the Rev. Mr. Appleton, Mr. Williams, and Mr. Turell, 
and it passed in the negative.' 1 

The following covenant, prepared by the Rev. Mr. Campbelfof 
Oxford, and the Rev. Mr. Stone of Southborough, was adopted, Sept. 
22, 1746, and afterwards subscribed by fifty members of the church. 2 

' We, whose names are hereunto subscribed, being inhabitants of 
the town of Worcester, in New England, knowing that we are very 
prone to offend and provoke God, Most High, both in heart and life, 
through the prevalency of sin that dwelleth in us, and the manifold 
temptations from without us, for which we have great reason to be 
unfeignedly humble before him, from day to day, do, in the name of 
our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, with dependence upon the o-ra- 
cious assistance of his Holy Spirit, solemnly enter into covenant 
with God, and with one another, according to his holy direction, as 
follows ; 

' First : That having chosen and taken the Lord Jehovah, Father, 
Son, and Holy Spirit, to be our God, we will fear him, cleave to 
him in love, and serve him in truth, with all our hearts, giving up 
ourselves to him, to be his people, in all things to be at his direction 
and sovereign disposal, that we may have and hold communion with 
him, as members of Christ's mystical body, according to his reveal- 
ed will, to our lives' end. 

' Secondly : We bind ourselves to bring up our children and ser- 
vants, in the knowledge and fear of God, by his instructions, accor- 
ding to our best abilities, and, in special, by orthodox catechisms, viz. 
the Assembly's at Westminster larger and shorter catechisms, that 
the true religion may be maintained in our families while we live ; 
yea, and among such as shall survive us, when we are dead and 
gone. 

' Thirdly : We furthermore promise, to keep close to the truth of 
Christ, endeavoring with lively affections of it in our hearts, to de- 

1 Sept. 22, 1746. It was voted, ' that the church will esteem it an offence, if any 
member thereof, shall hereafter countenance itinerant preachers.' 
2 Church Records of Rev. Mr. Maccarty. 



172 FIRST PARISH. [1746. 

fend it against all opposers thereof, as God shall call us at any time 
thereunto; which, that we may do, we resolve to use the Holy Scrip- 
tures as our directory, whereby we may discern the mind and will of 
Christ, and not the new found inventions of men. 

' Fourthly : We also engage ourselves, to have a careful inspection 
over our hearts, so as to endeavour, by virtue of the death of Christ, 
the mortification of our sinful passions, worldly frames, and disorder- 
ly affections, whereby we may be withdrawn from the living God. 

' Fifthly : We furthermore oblige ourselves, in the faithful improve- 
ment of all our abilities and opportunities, to worship God, according 
to the particular institutions of Christ for his church, under gospel 
administrations; to give a reverend attention to the word of God ; to 
pray unto him ; to sing his praises ; and to hold communion with one 
another, in the use of both the sacraments of the New Testament, viz. 
Baptism and the Lord's supper. 

' Sixthly : We likewise promise, that we will peaceably submit our- 
selves, unto the holy discipline appointed by Christ in his church, for 
offenders, obeying, according to the will of God, them that rule over 
us in the Lord. 

' Seventhly : We also bind ourselves, to walk in love, one towards 
another, endeavoring our mutual edification, visiting, exhorting, com- 
forting, as occasion serveth, any brother or sister which offends; 
not divulging private offences irregularly, but heedfully following the 
several precepts laid down by Christ for church discipline, in xviii. 
of Matthew, 15, 16, 17; willingly forgiving all that manifest, unto the 
judgment of charity, that they truly repent of all their miscarriages. 

' Now, the God of peace, which brought again from the dead our 
Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, the Great Shepherd of the sheep, 
through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make us all perfect in 
every good word and work, to do his will, working in us that which 
is well pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory 
forever and ever. Amen. 

' Worcester, Sept. 22, 1746. This church this day, renewed cov- 
enant with God and with one another, and unanimously signified their 
assent to the above written instrument, declaring, at the same time, 
their readiness to subscribe the same, at the next meeting of the 
church. Present, at their desire, John Prentice, Pastor of Lancas- 
ter, John Campbell, Pastor of Oxford.' 

In the period of nearly two years, subsequent to the dismission of 
Mr. Burr, many candidates were heard. Among them, the son of 



1747.] REV. THADDEUS MACCARTY. J 73 

Rev. Mr. Williams of Lebanon, the son of Rev. Mr. Williams of 
Springfield, Mr. Brown, Mr. Emerson, Mr. Marsh, Mr. Benjamin 
Stevens, Mr. Walley, Mr. Lawrence of Groton, were invited to offi- 
ciate. On the 17th of October, 1746, the committee were instruct- 
ed, to request the Rev. Thaddeus Maccarty of Boston, and the Rev. 
Jonathan Mayhew of Martha's Vineyard, afterwards pastor of the 
West Church in Boston, and distinguished as one of the most intre- 
pid champions of civil and religious liberty, and ablest divines of 
New England, to preach four sabbaths each. 

On the 27th of November, 1746, Mr. Maccarty preached his first 
sermon, on the public annual thanksgiving, and continued to officiate 
very acceptably, until the day was fixed for the election of a minis- 
ter, on the 19th of January, 1747. 

The sabbath preceding the determination between the candidates, 
Mr. Mayhew, who had previously been heard by the people, officia- 
ted in the forenoon, and Mr. Maccarty performed the afternoon ser- 
vice. The latter was elected, by 42 of the 44 votes given by the 
church : three only dissented, in town meeting, on the question of 
concurrence. On the 10th of June, 1747, he was installed as pas- 
tor of the religious society. The introductory prayer at the ordina- 
tion was offered by Rev. John Campbell of Oxford : the sermon 
was preached by Mr. Maccarty himself; from 1 Thess. ii. 13. and 
afterwards published. Rev. Mr. Williams of Weston, delivered the 
charge, and Rev. Mr. Cotton of Newton, gave the right hand of fel- 
lowship. The concluding prayer was by Rev. Mr. Appleton of Cam- 
bridge. After singing Psalm Ixxviii. 2 to 7 verses, the benediction 
was pronounced by Mr. Maccarty. 1 

The town voted a salary of <£100 in last emission money, ' having 
special regard to the small value of bills of credit, but if the future 
circumstances of Mr. Maccarty's family should call for it, they 
would cheerfully and willingly make him such further addition as 
may be judged proper from time to time.' From 1750 to 1759, the 
annual stipend was 80 pounds, in lawful money. After the latter 
year, the sum of 20 pounds was bestowed by the name of gratuity. 

On the 23d of March, 1747, the inhabitants voted to raise the 
sum of <£300, and appointed a committee to make sale of 100 acres 
of the ministerial lands in the town, for the purpose of purchasing 
a parsonage. A resolve of the General Court, passed June 3, 1747, 
authorized the sale, provided the proceeds were invested in real es- 
tate for the use of the ministry. The house of Dr. Samuel Breck, 

1 First Church's Records, i. 1. 



174 FIRST PARISH. [1787. 

situated on the common, south east from the meeting house, was 
purchased for <£187. 10s. and conveyed, by deed dated Sept. 25, 
1747, with about two acres of land adjoining, to John Chandler, 
treasurer, to and for the use of the town. This property was grant- 
ed to Mr. Maccarty, on his release of all expenses for repairs, and 
conveyed March 4th, 1765. 

The history of these transactions, has, unfortunately, become mat- 
ter of judicial record ; 1 a suit having been instituted, April 30th, 
1814, by Rev. Samuel Austin, to recover, in right of the parish, 
the tract of land from the tenant, claiming under the conveyance of 
the executors of Mr. Maccarty, in which it was finally determined 
that the deed of the town, in its parochial capacity, passed no title, 
and a judgment was rendered for the demandant, afterwards releas- 
ed by the Parish. 

On the commencement of the revolution, which Mr. Maccarty had 
promoted by his influence, although feeling the pressure of declin- 
ing years, and having a numerous family dependent upon him, he 
relinquished a portion of his allowance. 

The feebleness of Mr. Maccarty prevented his regular performance 
of clerical duties during the last years of his life. His long and use- 
ful ministry of 37 years was closed by death, July 20, 1784. 

The Rev. Thaddeus Maccarty, son of Capt. Thaddeus Maccarty, 
an experienced commander and skilful navigator in the merchant 
service, was born in Boston, 1721. Early destined to a seafaring 
life, he accompanied his father in several voyages, 2 but the delicate- 
ness of his constitution, rendered him unable to endure the hardships 
and exposure of the ocean, and his attention was directed to the 
more quiet pursuits of a profession. His preparatory studies were 
in the town school of Boston, and he graduated at Harvard College, 
in 1739. 

Soon after completing his theological education, he received and ac- 
cepted an invitation to settle in Kingston, in Plymouth county, where 
he was ordained as the pastor of that town, Nov. 3, 1742. At the ex- 
piration of three years, the connection was dissolved, under peculiar 
circumstances. The enthusiastic eloquence of Whitefield, had stirred 
up the slumbering spirit of piety, and his bold attacks on the regular 
clergy, alarmed the friends of the church. The unguarded bitterness 
of expressions, and the neglect of conciliatory policy on the part of 
that celebrated itinerant, changed mere disapprobation of his mea- 

1 14 Mass. Reports, 333. Austin vs. Thomas. 
2 MS. note on a sermon, in hand writing of Rev. Mr. Maccarty. 



1784.] CHARACTER OF MR. MACCARTY. 175 

sures into determined hostility. The inhabitants of Kingston, ap- 
prehensive of the disturbance of their peace by his visit, and fearful 
of his power to excite commotion, appointed a committee, Jan. 29, 
1745, to prevent the intrusion of roving exhorters. An unfounded 
report was circulated that Mr. Maccarty, who was supposed to be 
attached to Whitefield, then in Plymouth, had invited him to preach 
the sacramental lecture. Much excitement arose, and effectual care 
was taken to prevent the exercises of the obnoxious individual, by 
closing and fastening the meeting house, nailing the doors, and cov- 
ering the windows with boards. Mr. Maccarty, indignant at the 
personal insult and violation of his rights, omitted attending at the 
time appointed for the lecture, and immediately asked dismission. A 
council was convened, and, although, it is said, he had become de- 
sirous of withdrawing his request, it was granted, against his wishes, 
and the result, advising separation, accepted by the town. On the 
3d of November, 1745, three years to a day from his ordination, he 
preached a farewell sermon, from the appropriate text, Acts xx. 31. 
' Therefore watch, and remember that by the space of three years, I 
ceased not to warn every one, night and day, with tears. And now, 
brethren, I commend you to God, and to the word of his grace, 
which is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among 
all them that are sanctified.' A copy of the discourse was left in 
Kingston, and sixty years after the delivery, and long after the de- 
cease of the author, it was published, with a preface, containing a 
brief statement of the transaction, and remarks reproachful to the 
people of Kingston. 1 

His character is faithfully delineated in the following inscription 
on the monument erected to his memory. 

1 Beneath this stone are deposited the remains of the Rev. Thad- 
deus Maccarty, for thirty seven years pastor of the church in Wor- 
cester. Through the course of his ministry, he uniformly exhibited 
an example of the peaceable and amiable virtues of Christianity. 
Under a slow and painful decline, he discovered an ardent love to 
his master, by a cheerful attention to his service, and at the approach 
of death, he patiently submitted, in the full hope of a glorious resur- 
rection from the grave. In testimony of his fidelity, the people of 
his charge erect this monument. Obiit, July 20, 1784, ^Etatis 63.' 

Mr. Maccarty was tall in stature : in person slender and thin, with 
a dark and penetrating eye : a distinct and sonorous, though some- 
what harsh toned voice. His address was impressive and solemn. 

1 2 Mass. Hist. Coll. iii. 209, 



17() FIRST PARISH. [1740. 

In sentiment he was strictly calvinistic : * in politics decided and 
firm, ranking however with the moderate whigs. His printed ser- 
mons are more characterized by judicious thought, good sense, and 
piety, than elegance or eloquence. After preaching a convention 
sermon, a contemporary clergyman remarked, that he had never 
heard him preach either a very low, or a very brilliant discourse. 2 

1 President John Adams, in a letter to the Rev. Dr. Bancroft, says ; ' when I removed 
to Worcester, in 1735, 1 found that county hot with controversy between the parties of 
Mr. Buckminster and Mr. Mellen. I became acquainted with Dyer, Doolittle, and Bald- 
win, three notable disputants. Mr. Maccarty, though a calvinist, was not a bigot, but 
the town was a scene of disputes all the lime I lived there.' Mass. Spy, April 23, 1823. 

Joseph Dyer, attorney and merchant, Ephraiin Doolittle, merchant and afterward 
colonel of a regiment, Nathan Baldwin, Register of Deeds, were all deists. Of the 
two former, some notice will be found in succeeding pages. The latter was an ardent 
politician, and the author of many of the addresses and documents of our revolutionary 
annals. He died at Worcester, July 21, 178-1. 

2 The following list contains all the publications of Mr. Maccarty. 1. Farewell ser- 
mon, preached at Kingston, Nov. 3, 1745, printed, Boston, 1804. 2. The success of the 
preached gospel matter to faithful ministers of continual thankfulness to God : sermon 
at the author's installation to the pastoral office in Worcester, June 10, 1747. 1 Thes. xi. 
13. 3. The advice of Joab to the Host of Israel going forth to war, considered and ur- 
ged: in two discourses delivered in Worcester, April 5, 1759, being the day of the annual 
fast, and the day preceding the general muster of the militia throughout the province 
for the enlisting soldiers for the intended expedition against Canada. 4. The power and 
grace of Christ displayed to a dying malefactor: sermon, Oct. 20, 17G8, the day of the 
execution of Arthur, a negro, at Worcester. 5. The most henious sinners capable of the 
saving blessings of the gospel : sermon, Oct. 25, 1770, on the execution of William 
Lindsey for burglary, at Worcester. 6. Praise to God, a duty of continual obligation: 
sermon, Nov. 23, 1775, public thanksgiving. 7. The guilt of innocent blood put away: 
sermon, July 2, 1778, on the execution of Buchannan, Brooks, Ross, and Mrs. Spooner, 
for murder, at Worcester. Most of the manuscripts of Mr. Maccarty were destroyed at 
his decease, in compliance with his wishes. Among them, was the historical discourse, 
of whose contents the following memorandum was entered by him on the church records: 

' Thursday, Dec. 8, 1763. This day, being the public thanksgiving throughout the 
province, and the day also of this congregation's assembling in tiieir new meeting house, 
which began to be erected on June 21st preceding, exactly 1G }ears from the time of my 
installment to the pastoral office, I preached a sermon from 1 Chr. xxix. 1G, 17, in which 
some brief account was given of the original settlement of this town, the gathering of this 
church, its pastors, admissions, baptisms, <Scc. and some proper notice taken of the so- 
lemnity of thanksgiving,' 

Rev. Thaddeus Maccarty married Man Gatcomb, Sept. 8, 1743. Their children 
were : 1. Thaddeus, b. July 29, 1744. 2. John, b. Au°;. 16, 1745: both died in King- 
ston. 3. Thaddeus, b. Dec. 19. 1747, graduated at Yale College, 17G6: married Ex- 
perience, d. of Thomas Cowdin, Esq. of Fitchburg, Jan. 16, 1775: physician, practised 
sometime in Worcester, then in Kcene, N. H. where he died Nov. 21, 1802. 4. Tho- 
mas, b. Sept. 24, 1749: d. March 14, 1750. 5. Mary, b. Oct. 30, 1750: married Hon. 
Benjamin West, of Charlestown, N H. in 1781: d. Aug 1803. 6. John, b. Jan. 10, 
1752: d. June 19, 1752. 7. Elizabeth, b. Jan. 7, 1753 : d. March 25, 1823. 8. Wil- 
liam Greenough. b. Dec. 20, 1753 : quarter master in Col. Bigelow's, 15th Mass. regi- 
ment, died at Billerica, Aug. 13, 1791 : he married Hannah Soley of Charlestown, Mass. 
who after his decease married Nathan Adams of the same town, and is now his widow. 



1720.] CHURCH MUSIC. 177 

A singular controversy in relation to the form of conducting the 
musical portion of public worship in our churches, growing out of 
attachment to ancient customs and resistance of innovations, arose 
at an early period. In its progress, it converted the harmony of 
christians in the house of prayer into discord, and though trifling in 
its origin, became of so much importance, as to require the frequent 
directory interference of town meetings, and only arrived at its con- 
clusion when the great revolutionary struggle swallowed up all mi- 
nor objects. 

Anciently, those who joined in singing the devotional poetry of re- 
ligious exercises, were dispersed through the congregation, having 
no place assigned them as a distinct body, and no privileges sepa- 
rate from their fellow worshippers. After the clergyman had read 
the whole psalm, he repeated the first line, which was sung by those 
who were able to aid in the pious melody : the eldest deacon then 
pronounced the next line, which was sung in similar manner, and 

9. Samuel, b. March 23, 1755 : d. July 21, 1755. 10. Thomas, b. and d. Dec. 5, 1755. 
11. Francis, b. Sept. 28, 1756 : d. June 7, 1757. 12. Nathaniel, b. July 10, 1758 : learn- 
ed the trade of a printer, with Isaiah Thomas, afterwards merchant in Petersham, died 
in Worcester, Oct. 14, 1831. 13. Lucy, b. June 25, 17C0 : d. June 23, 1813. 14. Lu- 
cretia, b. July 15, 1762 : d, Jan. 1810. 15. Francis, b. Aug. 8, 1763 : d. Sept. 9, 1764. 
The mother died, Dec. 28, 1783, at Worcester. 

Mary Gatcomb was daughter of Francis Gatcomb, an emigrant from Wales, who be- 
came a wealthy merchant of Boston, where he died, July 20, 1744, aged 51 ; his wife, 
Rachel, died, Nov. 20. 1752, aged 51. The marriage of one of (heir four daughters 
with one Winter, was full of the romance of real life. He had worked as a wood saw- 
yer at her father's door, and it was not known to the family that she had even spoken to 
him. One afternoon, she put on her bonnet and shawl, and said she was about to visit 
a place she named. Her sister, observed, ' stop a few miuutes, and I will go with you.' 
' No,' she replied, ' I am in a hurry ;' and immediately went out. Night coming on, the 
family became greatly alarmed by her absence, and made ineffectual search ill all di- 
rections. The next morning revealed the mystery of her disappearance ; she had be- 
come the lawful wife of Winter. Her parents were much incensed, and forbade her the 
house; but afterwards, on his death bed, her father became reconciled, received her 
again to favor, and in the division of his estate, which was large for those days, made 
her share equal to that of his other children. Winter proved a kind, but thriftless hus- 
band. They embarked for Halifax, were shipwrecked, lost all their effects, and narrow- 
ly escaped with life. Finding nothing but poverty and distress at Halifax, they return- 
ed to Boston. Winter did the best he could to support his family by day labor, and 
was ever kind and affectionate to the woman he had led from the affluence of her former 
home to the penury of his own lot. Misfortune followed him, and his exertions were 
unsuccessful. His wife, at length, fell into consumption. The Rev. Mr. Maccarly, 
who married her sister, went to Boston to visit her in distress, and found her in a bare 
hovel, on a straw bed, destitute of every thing. He administered all the consolation in 
his power, gave to her a guinea, a large present for him to make at that time, knelt 
down by her and prayed, and, commending her to the protection of heaven, departed. 
She died, in about six weeks after, without issue. MS. Letter of John W. Stiles, Esq. 

23 



178 FIRST PARISH. [1726. 

the exercises of singing and reading went on alternately. When 
the advantages of education Avere less generally diffused than at pres- 
ent, the custom was established, to avoid the embarrassment result- 
ing from the ignorance of those who were more skilful in giving 
sound to notes than deciphering letters. The barbarous effect pro- 
duced by each individual repeating the words to such tune as was 
agreeable to his own taste, became apparent. The first attempt at 
the reformation of this ' usual way,' as it was termed, was made 
March, 172G, when a meeting of the inhabitants was called, for the 
purpose of considering ' in which way the congregation shall sing in 
future, in public, whether in the ruleable way, or in the usual way,' 
and the former was adopted, though not without strong opposition 
at the time and great discontent after. 1 Ineffectual application hav- 
ing been made to the selectmen, to convene the people, for the pur- 
pose of again discussing the subject, a warrant was procured from 
John Minzies, Esq. of Leicester, calling a meeting, ' to see if the 
town will reconsider their vote concerning singing, it being of an 
ecclesiastical nature, which ought not to stand on our town records ;' 
but the article was dismissed. 

The next step was, the attempt to procure the aid of some suita- 
ble person to lead and direct in the performances. It was voted, 
May, 1769, ' that the elder's seat be used for some persons to lead 
the congregation in singing.' The adherents of old usage posses- 
sed sufficient influence to negative a proposition for raising a com- 
mittee to invite a qualified individual to perform this office. In 
March, 1770, ' it was voted, that Messrs. James McFarland, Jona- 
than Stone, and Ebenezer Flagg, sit in the elder's seat to lead, and 
on a motion made and seconded, voted unanimously, that Mr. Wil- 
liam Swan sit in the same seat, to assist the aforesaid gentlemen in 
singing.' It remained, to gather the musicians to one choir, where 
their talents in psalmody could be better exerted than in their dis- 
persion, and in 1773, ' the two hind body seats, on the men's side, 
on the lower floor of the meeting house,' were assigned to those who 
sat together and conducted singing on the Lord's day, 

The final blow was struck on the old system, by the resolution of 
the town, Aug 5, 1779. ' Voted, That the singers sit in the front 
seats in the front gallery, and those gentlemen who have heretofore 
sat in the front seats in said gallery, have a right to sit in the front 

1 Its execution was defeated by the resistance of the deacons, who, on the ensuing 
Lord's day, read line by line as usual, without regard to the vote. Respectful regard 
to the feelings of these venerable men prevented the contemplated change. 



1779.] CHURCH MUSIC. 179 

seat and second seat below, and that said singers have said seats ap- 
propriated to said use. Voted, That said singers be requested to 
take said seats and carry on singing in public worship. Voted, That 
the mode of singing in the congregation here, be without reading 
the psalms, line by line, to be sung.' 

The sabbath succeeding the adoption of these votes, after the 
hymn had been read by the minister, the aged and venerable Deacon 
Chamberlain, unwilling to desert the custom of his fathers, rose, and 
read the first line according to his usual practice. The singers, pre- 
pared to carry the alteration into effect, proceeded, without pausing at 
its conclusion : the white haired officer of the church, with the full 
power of his voice, read on, until the louder notes of the collected 
body overpowered the attempt to resist the progress of improvement, 
and the deacon, deeply mortified at the triumph of musical reforma- 
tion, seized his hat, and retired from the meeting house, in tears. 
His conduct was censured by the church, and he was, for a time, de- 
prived of its communion, for absenting himself from the public ser- 
vices of the sabbath. 

The mode of reading prevailed in Boston, and throughout New 
England, until a few years prior to the last mentioned date, and in 
some places beyond it. A relic of the old custom probably still sur- 
vives, in the repetition of the first line of the hymn by clergymen of 
the present day. 

The improved version, by President Dunster, of the translation 
attempted by Rev. Mr. Weld, Rev. Mr. Eliot of Roxbury, and Rev. 
Richard Mather of Dorchester, according to the agreement of the 
ministers in 1639, was used in the church here until 17C1, when it 
was voted, ' that it would be agreeable to change the version of the 
Psalms, and to sing the version composed by Tate and Brady, with 
an appendix of scriptural hymns of Dr. Watts,' and this was begun 
to be used Nov. 29, of that year, The hymns of Dr. Watts were 
substituted for the book before used, Jan. 20, 1790. 

The public reading of a lesson from the Scriptures, as a stated 
portion of the service, was not introduced into New England until 
near the middle of the last century. The following extract from the 
church records shows the period when it was first commenced here. 
' 1749. Sept. 3. Voted, that thanks be given, by the pastor, public- 
ly, to the Hon. John Chandler, Esq. for his present of a handsome 
folio Bible for the public reading of the Scriptures, which laudable 
custom was very unanimously come into, by the church, at one of 
their meetings some time before.' 



180 FIRST PARISH. [1783. 

The assignment of places in church was formerly matter of grave 
consideration, and frequently claimed the attention of the town. In 
1724, a large committee was instructed to seat the meeting house, ' ta- 
king as the general rule the two last invoices of ratable estate, sav- 
ing liberty to have due regard to principal builders as they shall see 
cause.' After long lapse of time, they were directed in 1733, 'to pro- 
ceed and finish the meeting house, and that the rule they principal- 
ly guide themselves by, be a person's usefulness, or the station he 
holds in age and pay, not having regard to plurality of polls, but to 
real and personal estate.' In 1748, it was directed, ' that the men's 
seats in the body of the house be enlarged to the women's seats, 
that a man and woman be placed in each of the pews to be con- 
structed, and a seat for the children be made in the body before the 
seats.' An article was inserted in the warrant of April, 1750, ' to 
give directions that people may sit in the seats assigned to them, to 
prevent discord, and that they do not put themselves too forward,' 
and at the meeting it was voted, ' that the selectmen give tickets to 
such people as have not taken their seats properly, according to the 
last seating, directing them to sit where they ought, so as to prevent 
disorder, and that they fill up properly any pews lately built.' In 
the house erected in 1763, the right of selection of pews was given 
' in the order of amounts paid for building.' 

The declining health of Mr. Maccarty, during the last years of his 
life, had prevented his constant ministration, and rendered aid neces- 
sary for the pulpit. In March, 1781, a committee was instructed to 
engage the temporary assistance of clergymen. 

In July, 1783, the increasing infirmities of the pastor, made it ap- 
parent that the days of his usefulness were drawing near their close. 
With the view to provide an assistant, or successor, it was voted, to 
settle a colleague, and to invite candidates to officiate on probation. 
Gentlemen, whose labors in other towns were afterwards crowned 
with distinguished success, were heard, but failed to produce such 
impression as to unite the members of the parish in the selection from 
the number. Among others, the Rev. Aaron Bancroft preached 
eight sabbaths in the autumn of 17S3. On the termination of his en- 
gagement, Mr. Maccarty was so far restored to health, as to be able 
to resume the discharge of his duties for a short period. 

In July, 1784, the pulpit was left vacant by his decease. In Oc- 
tober following, Mr. Bancroft again preached five or six times. Dif- 
ferences of opinion on religious doctrine had sprung up, which, in 
their progress, produced division in the parent parish, and are stated 



1785.] SEPARATION OF SECOND SOCIETY. 181 

on the record, to have disturbed the peace of the town and the inter- 
course of society. 

In November, 1784, a day was set apart by the town, for humilia- 
tion, prayer, and supplication of the divine assistance for the rees- 
tablishment of the Gospel ministry. 

Mr. Bancroft returned to Worcester, under a third engagement to 
preach, in January, 1785. A meeting was convened in March of 
that year, on the request of 48 petitioners. A motion was made to 
settle Mr. Bancroft as the minister. The opposition of the majority 
arose from diversity of religious sentiment ; l and not from objection 
to the character or ability of the candidate. It was proposed, as a 
means of compromise, that he should be called to settle : that those 
opposed should be at liberty to settle a colleague of their own choice : 
and that the salaries of both be paid from the common treasury ; but 
this was rejected. The friends of Mr. Bancroft, next requested the 
assent of the town to the formation of another society, which was re- 
fused. They then withdrew, voluntarily associated themselves to- 
gether, and although the legal connexion was not dissolved until an 
act of incorporation was obtained long afterwards, they maintained 
public worship separate from the parish. 

The division springing from this source, and extending its distract- 
ing influence over civil, municipal, social, and private affairs, continu- 
ed to impair harmony. Those who seceded, still remained liable to 
taxation, and while charged with the support of their own minister, 
were compelled to contribute their proportion of the parochial expen- 
ses of their opponents. The members of the new society claimed a 
share in the funds arising from the sale of lands appropriated for re. 
ligious purposes, and of the property which had been held in com- 
mon for ministerial use. During two years, continual but ineffectual 
attempts were made to secure equitable adjustment. Meeting after 
meeting was held. Propositions to exonerate the new society from 
taxation in the parish from which they had separated ; to distribute 
the ministerial funds and property ; to submit the determination of 
the whole matter to the arbitration of the Justices of the Supreme 



1 'On application for an incorporating act, a committeeof the legislature was appoin- 
ted to report on the prayer of the petition, of which the venerable Charles Turner, once 
a distinguished clergyman, was chairman. He was liberal in his opinions, but much 
opposed to the ecclesiastical division of towns and parishes; and he demanded the 
reasons, which rendered it expedient, that the town of Worcester should thus be divided. 
Judge Lincoln, chairman of the parish committee, replied, 'The majority of our inhabi- 
tants are rigid Calvinists, the petitioners are rank Arminians.' Dr. BancroA's Half 
Century Sermon, 42. 



182 FIRST PARISH. [1786. 

Judicial Court, or of referees mutually chosen ; with all varieties of 
modifications, were successively rejected. The petitions for incor- 
poration were opposed ; all terms of accommodation denied ; and the 
meetings were disturbed by the conflict of the contending parties, un- 
til the act of the Legislature defined the rights of the minority, and 
the controversy subsided. 

While this warfare of brethren was going on, attempts were made 
to settle a minister in tbe elder society. 

May 15, 1786, an invitation was given to Rev. Daniel Story for 
this purpose, with an offer of £ 300 settlement, and £ 120 annual sal- 
ary, and accepted by him. His ordination was postponed, with the 
hope that an amicable settlement of the controversies of the societies 
could be effected. October 15, 1787, the last Wednesday ofNovem- 
ber was fixed for the ceremony, and a committee charged with the 
proper preparations. Before the time appointed for his installation 
arrived, another meeting was held, and the former vote reconsidered. 
Adjournments took place from month to month, without final action 
on the subject, until March 10th, 1788, when the invitation was re- 
called, and the relation which had commenced between pastor and 
people was dissolved, after Mr. Story had preached about two years. 
This measure was adopted, probably in compliance with his wishes, 
and was induced by his reluctance to remain permanently, where 
his means of usefulness would be limited, and restrained by the ex- 
isting divisions. 

Rev. Daniel Story, son of William Story of Boston, who held the 
office of Commissioner of Stamps, was a graduate of Dartmouth Col- 
lege, in the class of 1780. After his removal from Worcester, he 
preached as a candidate for the ministry in Concord, New Hampshire. 
Although an acceptable preacher, the Arminian sentiments he was 
said to entertain, prevented his settlement. He removed to Ohio, and 
was settled as the first minister of Marietta, where he died in 1813. 1 

Nov. 13, 1787, the New Society was incorporated by the Legisla- 
ture. From this time, the first parish commenced its legal existence 
distinct from the municipal corporation, and the support of worship 
ceased to be provided for by the inhabitants in their general meetings. 

The Rev. Abiel Flint, Israel Evans, Elijah Kellog, Enoch Pond, 
Joshua Cushman, William F. Rowland, and Ebenezer Fitch, sup- 
plied the desk, after the retirement of Mr. Story. 

On the 22d of March, 1790, the Rev. Samuel Austin of New Ha- 
ven, was invited to settle on a salary of .£130. After the acceptance 

1 J Farmer in New Hampshire Hist. Coll. iii. 248. 



1790.] CHURCH COVENANT. 183 

of the call by that gentleman, disapprobation was expressed by an 
individual. For the purpose of ascertaining the precise extent of op- 
position, and to avoid the painful consequences of discontent, a sec- 
ond meeting was held, when there were found to be seventy three 
for, and only two against the candidate. 

Mr. Austin was installed, Sept. 30, 1790. The Rev. Samuel 
Spring ofNewburyport, introduced the solemnities with prayer : Rev. 
Samuel Hopkins of Hadley, delivered the sermon : Rev. Ebenezer 
Chaplin of Sutton, made the ordaining prayer : Rev. Joseph Sumner 
of Shrewsbury, gave the charge : Rev. Nehemiah Williams of Brim- 
field, bestowed the right hand of fellowship : Rev. Nathaniel Emmons 
ofFranklin, offered the concluding prayer. 

As a substitute for the old articles of faith and covenant, the fol- 
lowing were unanimously adopted by the church, to be used in the 
admission of members. l 

' 1. I believe that there is one, only, living, and true God, a Being 
independent and eternal in his existence and glory, unchangeable in 
his purposes, possessed of infinite power, wisdom, and justice, good- 
ness and truth, and who is the Creator, Benefactor, Preserver, and 
sovereign righteous Governor of the universe. 

* 2. I believe that the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament, 
were given by inspiration of God, are clothed with divine authority, 
and are a perfect rule of faith and manners. 

'3. I believe that the Scriptures teach, that God exists, in a man- 
ner incomprehensible to us, under a threefold distinction or Trini- 
ty of persons, as the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, and that to these 
three persons, as the one God, all divine perfections are to be equal- 
ly ascribed. 

'4. I believe that every individual of the human race, is, by con- 
nection with the first man, and in consequence of his apostasy, native- 
ly dead in trespasses and sins, at enmity with God, and must be re- 
generate in heart, and sanctified by the agency of the Holy Ghost, 
in order to final salvation. 

' 5. 1 believe that God hath, from the foundation of the world, or- 
dained some, by an election purely of grace, unto everlasting life, who, 
and who only, will be finally gathered into the kingdom of the Re- 
deemer. 

' 6. The only Redeemer of sinners, I believe, is the Lord Jesus 

1 These articles were not entered on the church records until May 23, 1815. They 
were then revised, but it stated, were varied in phraseology only, and not in sentiment. 



184 FIRST PARISH. [1790. 

Christ, who is strictly and properly a divine person, who, by the as- 
sumption of the human nature in union with the divine, became ca- 
pable of making a meritorious and effectual sacrifice for sin, by 
giving himself up to the death of the cross ; that by this sacrifice 
he became the propitiation of the sins of men ; that, as risen from 
the dead, ascended and glorified, he is the Head of the Church, 
and the final Judge of the world, and that all who are saved, will be 
entirely indebted to the sovereign Grace of God, through his atone- 
ment. 

' 7. I believe that those who are once regenerated and united to 
Christ by a true faith, will never finally fall away, but will be preser- 
ved by divine power, and in fulfillment of God's eternal purpose 
of Grace, unto final salvation. 

' 8. I believe that those who die in a state of impenitency and un- 
belief are irrevocably lost. 

' 9. I believe in the resurection of the dead and a general judg- 
ment, in the issue of which the righteous will be received to the per- 
fect and endless enjoyment of God in heaven, and the wicked will 
be sentenced to be everlastingly punished in that fire which was pre- 
pared for the devil and his angels, which sentence I believe will be 
fully executed. 

' 10. I believe in the sacraments of the Gospel dispensation, bap- 
tism and the Lord's Supper, as the two ordinances instituted by 
Christ, for the edification of his body the Church : that visible believ- 
ers only, who appear to receive the truth in the love of it, and to 
maintain a conversation becoming the Gospel, have a right of admis- 
sion to the Lord's Supper, and that they, with their households, are 
the only proper subjects to whom baptism is to be administered.' 

The following Covenant was subscribed. 

' You do now, in the presence, of God, angels, and men, avouch 
the Lord Jehovah, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, to be your God, 
the object of your supreme love and your portion : You receive, 
trust in, and desire to obey, the Lord Jesus Christ as your only Re- 
deemer ; You choose the Holy Spirit as your Sanctifier : You give 
up yourself and all that you have to God, to be his, desiring above 
all things to be an instrument of his glory in that way which he 
shall see best; and promising, through the help of divine grace, with- 
out which you can do nothing, that you will deny ungodliness and 
worldly lusts, and that you will live soberly, righteously, and godly, 
even unto death, you cordially join yourself, as a brother, to this 



1815.] REV. SAMUEL AUSTIN. 185 

church as a true church of our Lord Jesus Christ, and engage to 
be subject to its discipline, so far as it is conformable to the rules 
which Christ has given in the Gospel, and that you will walk with 
the members thereof, in all memberlike love, watchfulness, and 
purity.' 

Upon assent to this covenant, on occasion of admission, the church 
respond, ' Then doth this church receive you into its bosom, prom- 
ising you our prayers and christian love and we severally engage 
with the help of divine grace, that we will walk with you in all 
brotherly watchfulness and kindness, hoping that you and we shall 
become more and more conformed to the example of our divine 
Master, till we at last come to the perfection of holiness in the king- 
dom of his glory. Amen.' 

During the war, and amid the violence of party contention, Dr. 
Austin expressed his political sentiments strongly, in sermons preach- 
ed on the special fasts. 1 Many took offence at this course. A meet- 
ing was called, to ascertain the views of the parish in relation to these 
discourses, and to consider the expediency of dissolving the existing 
connection. The minister was sustained by a great majority, and 
the meeting dissolved without action. The disaffected withdrew from 
his congregation, and many united in forming the Baptist Society. 

In 1815, Mr. Austin accepted the presidency of the University of 
Vermont, and solicited dismission ; but, on the request of the church 
and parish, assented to their concurrent votes, June 12, giving him 
leave of absence until the first of September then following, that he 
might have time and opportunity to obtain the information necessary 
for final decision, and that candidates might be invited to supply the 
pulpit, with a view to the settlement of colleague or successor. Having 
determined to remain in Burlington, it was considered desirable that 
his pastoral relations should still be retained, on account of the civil 
process instituted in his name by the parish against the town, for the 
recovery of ministerial lands. An adjudication was had in the legal 
controversy, at the distance of about two years from his change of 
residence. Regard for the wishes of a minority, influenced him in 
longer preserving the original connection, which was finally termina- 
ted by the result of a mutual council, Dec. 23, 1818. 

1 The sermon preached on occasion of the special fast, Jul)' 23, 1812, was published, 
with the following' characteristic imprint on the title page : ' Published from the press, by 
the desire of some who heard it, and liked it ; by the desire of some who heard it,, and 
did not like it ; and by the desire of others, who did not hear it, but imagine they should 
not have liked it, if they had.' 

24 



186 FIRST PARISH. [1813. 

Dr. Samuel Austin was born in New Haven, Nov. 7, 1760. 1 When 
the revolutionary war commenced, he entered the army, and served 
in New York when the British took possession of the city, and, occa- 
sionally, for short periods, in other campaigns. After having devo- 
ted some time to the instruction of youth, he applied himself to the 
study of law with Judge Chauncy of Connecticut. Feeling the ne- 
cessity of higher classical attainments, he fitted himself, and was ad- 
mitted to the Sophomore class of Yale College, in 1781, where he 
was distinguished as an accomplished linguist, and received the first 
appointment in the commencement exercises of 1784. Under the 
theological tuition of Dr. Edwards, he was prepared for the ministry. 
For four succeeding years, while a candidate, he was at the head ol 
an academy in Norwich. During the period of this employment, 
one unanimous invitation to settle in Hampton, Connecticut, and an- 
other, to become colleague with Dr. Livingston, in the pastoral care 
of the Middle Dutch Church in the city of New York, were declined. 
The religious sentiments of Dr. Austin were decidedly calvinistic, ol 
the school of the Edwardses, and he required a stricter creed than 
that of either society. In 1787, he accepted the call of the church 
of Fair Haven, in the city of New Haven. During the next year, he 
was married to Jerusha, daughter of Dr. Samuel Hopkins of Hadley : 
Strong disapprobation of the halfway covenant, as it was called, 
induced him to seek the dissolution of the connection with the soci- 
ety of his settlement, which had continued two years. . Before the 
ceremony of dismission, as soon as his intentions to leave New Ha- 
ven became known, he was earnestly solicited to become minister o: 
the first parish in Worcester. Yielding personal wishes to sense of du- 
ty, he' was installed, Sept. 30, 1790, and retained the relation, thus 
commenced, twenty five years. Having been elected President o: 
the University of Vermont, in 1815, he removed to Burlington 
The operations of that institution had been suspended for three years 
by the war, and its buildings occupied as barracks for troops. The 
whole permanent income little exceeding one thousand dollars annu- 
ally, its prosperity suffered by the derangement and depression of the 
times. Feeling that his expectations of usefulness and happiness 
could not be realized, after discharging the duties of his appointment 
six years, with fidelity, Dr. Austin resigned. The labors of his sta- 
tion had impaired his health, and its anxieties probably, pressed heav- 
ily on his mind. He resumed occupations more congenial to his 

>His father, Samuel Austin, married Lydia Wolcot : they had two sons and a daugh 
tcr, of whom Dr. Austin was the eldest. 



1830.] REV. SAMUEL AUSTIN. 187 

tastes and habits, than were the government and support of the col- 
lege, and selecting a people at Newport, in Rhode Island, unable to 
afford full support, went among them as on a missionary charity, and 
was installed in 1822. Increasing infirmity of body and depression of 
spirits, compelled him to retire, in 182G, and he returned to Worcester. 
He afterwards preached at Millbury, and was solicited to resume the 
ministry by a new society in that place, but declined. The death of a 
nephew and adopted son, John W. Hubbard, Esq. and the separation 
of a family, where he might have expected to make a peaceful home, 
cheered by the kindness which soothes the heavy hours of sickness 
and despondency, involved him in affliction and engaged him in en- 
tangled affairs of business. Under the perplexities and beneath the 
oppressive burden of unaccustomed transactions, his mental energies 
gave way, and were, at length prostrated. Occasional aberrations 
of reason terminated in deep religious melancholy, and sometimes, 
paroxysms of hopeless despair clouded his declining days with gloom. 
After passing a year in the family of his brother in law, Mr. Hopkins 
of Northampton, he removed to that of a nephew, the Rev. Mr. Rid- 
del of Glastenbury, Connecticut, where he died, in an apoplectic fit, 
Dec. 4, 1830, aged 71. 

He was one of the founders, with Drs. Emmons and Spring, of the 
Massachusetts Missionary Society ; active in originating the General 
Association of Massachusetts ; member of the American Board of 
Commissioners for Foreign Missions; one of the projectors and a con- 
tributor of the Panoplist, an able religious periodical ; and promoted 
with energy and zeal the objects of many public charitable institu- 
tions. In 1808, he collected and published the works of the elder 
President Edwards, the first and only complete and accurate edition 
of the writings of that celebrated theologian. He received the de- 
gree of Doctor of Divinity from Williams College. During his whole 
life he was an industrious and voluminous author. 1 

1 The printed works of Dr. Austin are the following: 1. Funeral oration in the 
chapel at Yale College, on the death of David Ripley, a classmate, July II, 1782. 2. 
Sermon on disinterested love, New York. 3. Funeral sermon, Exeter, N. H. April 10, 
1790. 4. Sermon on the sabbath following the author's installation, Worcester. Sept- 
1790. 5. Sermon on the sabbath following the death of Miss Hannah Blair, 1792. 
6. Thanksgiving Sermon. Worcester, Dec. 15, 1796. 7. Sermon on the Ordination of 
Rev. Samuel Worcester, at Fitchburg, Mass. Sept. 27, 1797, and again preached at the 
Ordination of Rev. Nathaniel Hale, Oct. 4, 1797, at Granville, N. Y. 8. Oration, July 
4, 1798, at Worcester. 9. Sermon at the ordination of Rev. Leonard Worcester, Oct. 
30, 1799, at Peachham, Vt. 10. Sermon at the ordination of Rev. Samuel Worcester, 
April 20, 1803, at Salem. 11. Sermon in a volume, ' Sermons Collected,' published at 
Hartford, 1803. 12. Sermon before Massachusetts Missionary Society, May 24. 1803, 



188 FIRST PARISH. [1816. 

A funeral discourse was pronounced at the interment of Dr. Aus- 
tin, by his friend, the Rev. Dr. Caleb J. Tenney of Wethersfield : 
from which many of these particulars have been abstracted. 'His in- 
tellect,' says that biographer, ' was superior. Its operations were 
marked by rapidity, vigor and general accuracy .... His classical 
attainments and extensive general knowledge, secured him a respect- 
able standing among the learned in our country .... As a writer 
for the pulpit, his mind was original and fertile ; his style at once 
copious and discriminating .... In delivery he was animated and 
vehement .... while, occasionally, he rose to high and powerful 
eloquence.' 

Dr. Austin was of commanding stature. An austere air and se- 
vere countenance, were united with ardent feelings, and constitution- 
al susceptibility to external incidents and influences. In appear- 
ance, he might be supposed to resemble, as in fearless spirit and 
firmness he would have imitated, had occasion called to the trial, 
one of the reformers and martyrs of old. 

On the 15th of July, 1S16, the Rev. Charles A. Goodrich was in- 
vited to settle, as colleague with Dr. Austin until the latter should 
be regularly dismissed from office, and thenceforward as sole pastor, 
by 64 of 66 members of the parish, and this was confirmed, August 

Boston. 13, 14. Two Sermons in the Columbian Preacher, published at Catskill, N. Y. 
1808. 15. Examination of the representations and reasonings contained in seven ser- 
mons by Rev. Daniel Merrill. 12mo. pp. 108. 18C5. 1G. Mr. Merrill's defensive armor 
taken from him, a reply to his twelve letters to the author, on the mode and subjects of 
Baptism. 12mo. pp. 53. 1806. 17. View of the economy of the church of God, as 
it existed under the Ahrahamic Dispensation and the Sinai Law, and as it is perpetua- 
ted under the more luminous Dispensation of the Gospel, particularly in regard to the 
Covenants. 8vo. pp. 328. 1807. 18. Sermon at the ordination of Rev. John M. 
Whiton,Sept. 28, 1808, at Antrim, N. H. 19. Sermon at the dedication of anew mee- 
ting house, Nov. 3, 1808, at Hadley, Mass. 20. Sermon at the ordination of Rev. 
Warren Fay, Nov. 1808, at Brimfield Mass. 21. Fast Sermon, April 11, 1811. Wor- 
cester. 22. Sermon at the ordination of Rev. John Nelson, March 14, 18)2, at Leices- 
ter. 23. Sermon on the Special Fast, July 23, 1812. Worcester. 24. The apology of 
patriots ; or the heresy of Washington and peace policy defended: Sermon on the 
National Fast, Aug. 20, 1812. Worcester. 25. Sermon at the ordination of Rev. Ga- 
maliel S. Olds, Nov. 13, 1813, at Greenfield. 26. Inaugural Address on induction into 
office as President of the University in Vermont, July 26, 1816, Burlington, Vt. 27. 
Election Sermon, Oct. 10, 1816, at Montpelier, Vt. £8. Protest against proceedings 
of first church in Worcester, June, 1821. 29. Oration, July 4, 1822, at Newport, R. I. 

30. Sermon on the dedication of the Calvinist Church, Oct. 13, 1823, at Worcester. 

31. Discourse at the 15th annual Meeting of the American Board of Commissioners of 
Foreign Missions, Sept. 15, 1824, at Hartford. 32. Address, July 4, 1825, at Worces- 
ter. 33. Dissertations upon several fundamental articles of Christian Theology. 8vo. 
pp. 260. Worcester. 1826. 



1820.] REV. CHARLES A. GOODRICH. 189 

26, SS to 2. A salary of 8 900 was offered. The ordination took 
place, Oct. 9. The prayer was by the Rev. Benjamin Wood of Up- 
ton : sermon by Rev. Samuel Goodrich of Berlin, Conn, father of 
the pastor : consecrating prayer by Rev. Edmund Mills of Sutton : 
charge by Rev. Mr. Smith of Durham, Conn : exhortation to church 
and people by Rev. Joseph Goffe of Millbury : address and rio-ht 
hand of fellowship by Rev. John Nelson of Leicester : concluding 
prayer by Rev. Mr. Whittlesey of Washington, Conn. 

The opposition manifested to the call of Mr. Goodrich, grew stron- 
ger after his ordination, and was much increased by the dismission 
of his colleague. Twenty eight members of the church protested 
before the ecclesiastical council convened by the assent of Dr. Aus- 
tin, Nov. 18, 1818, against the dissolution of the then existing rela- 
tions. That body, on the 23d of December, separated the connec- 
tion of the senior pastor. Objections of a personal nature to the 
ministration of Mr. Goodrich, and to the discipline and proceedings 
of the church, led to long and acrimonious controversy. The dis- 
affected, and those who considered themselves aggrieved, withdrew 
or were dismissed, and joined the Baptist Society, or united them- 
selves to other religious associations, and were finally formed into 
the Calvinist Church. The troubles of this period have too recently 
been laid before the public in voluminous tracts, to require repetition 
of the narrative. 1 

Mr. Goodrich asked and received dismission, Nov. 14, 1820. 

The Rev. Charles A. Goodrich, was a native of Berlin in Connec- 
ticut, son of the clergyman of the parish of Worthington, in that 
town, and graduated at Yale College, in 1815. After his removal 
from Worcester, he returned to his native place, and has since been 
engaged in literary labors. 

The Rev. Aretius B. Hull, invited to settle as the successor of 
Mr. Goodrich, by a vote of 101 to 3, was ordained May 23, 1821. 
Rev. Dr. Reuben Puffer of Berlin, made the introductory prayer: 
the sermon was preached by Rev. Nathaniel W. Taylor of New Ha- 

1 The full history of these difficulties, and discussions of their leading- points are con- 
tained in a series of publications : 1. Origin and Progress of the late difficulties in the 
First Church in Worcester, containing all the documents relating to the subject. 2. 
Remarks on the late publication of the First Church in Worcester, relating to the origin 
and progress of the late difficulties in that church. 3. Result of a Mutual Ecclesiastical 
Council, Nov. 14, 1820, to consider the expediency of granting the request of Rev. 
Charles A. Goodrich to be dismissed. 4. Protest against the proceedings of the First 
Church in Worcester, by Samuel Austin, D. D. 5. Communication from the Brook- 
field association, to the Ecclesiastical Council who ordained Rev. Loammi Ives Hoad- 
)y, over the Calvinist Church, in Worcester. 



100 FIRST PARISH. [1821. 

ven : the consecrating prayer offered by Rev. Daniel Tomlinson of 
Oakham : the charge given by Rev. Joseph Avery of Holden : right 
hand of fellowship extended by Rev. John Nelson of Leicester : ad- 
dress to the church delivered by Rev. Thomas Snell of North Brook- 
field : and the concluding prayer pronounced by Rev. Micah Stone 
of Brook field. The venerable Dr. Sumner of Shrewsbury, presided 
in the Council. 

The Rev. Aretius B. Hull, descended from a respectable family 
emigrating from the vicinity of Liverpool, in England, to New Ha- 
ven, at an early period, was born at Woodbridge, in Connecticut, 
October 12, 1788. Having been fitted by the Rev. Dr. Eli, he grad- 
uated at Yale, in 1807. Adopting the usual resource of young men 
indigent in circumstances, to acquire the pecuniary means of profes- 
sional education, he taught the academy at Wethersfield, for a short 
space after completing his collegiate course. The seeds of consump- 
tion were implanted in his constitution, and he sought relief from 
the genial climate of the Southern states. Returning with improved 
health, he accepted the appointment of tutor in his own college, in 
1810, and remained in that station until the autumn of 1816, when 
he was licensed to preach. Although still suffering from the lurking 
complaint he officiated in Brookficld, Connecticut, and in other plac- 
es, until his ordination in Worcester, in 1821. The disease, which 
medical skill has not been yet able to arrest, in May 1825, interrup- 
ted his labors, and, on the 17th of May, 182G, terminated his exis- 
tence, at the age of 38. 

' He possessed,' says the Rev. Mr. Nelson, 1 'a mind of a very high 
order, and that mind was enriched with uncommon attainments of 
general as well as professional knowledge. His conceptions were 
clear, just, and discriminating. At the same time, a highly cultiva- 
ted taste, a refinement of thought and feeling, as pleasing as it was 
genuine, pervaded all his writings and all his conversation.' 

After the death of Mr. Hull, Mr. Joseph Whiting was invited to 
settle as his successor, Nov. 1G, 1826, but as there was apparent 
want of unanimity in the election, the call was declined. 

The Rev. Rodney A. Miller, the present clergyman, received an 

Sermon delivered at his funeral, May, 1826, by Rev. John Nelson, Pastor of the 
Church in Leicester. Mr. Nelson, was a native of Hopkinton, whence he removed 
with his father, Deacon John Nelson, sometime resident in Milford, to Worcester. He 
graduated at Williams College, 1807, was subsequently tutor there, afterwards pursued 
theological studies with the Rev. Dr. Austin, was ordained in Leicester, March 4, 1812, 
and still remains in that town, having the praise in the churches of an able and faithful 
minister, and enjoying the resdect and affection of his people. 



1719.] REV. RODNEY A. MILLER. 191 

invitation, with a single dissenting voice only, to become Pastor of 
the First Parish, Feb. 19, 1827. 

Mr. Miller, descended from a puritan family emigrating from Dev- 
onshire, in England, and settling near Hampton, on the east, end of 
Lono- Island, son of Mr. Uriah Miller of Troy, New York, graduat- 
ed at Union College, 1821, pursued the usual course of professional 
studies at the Theological Seminary in Princeton, N. .1. and was or- 
dained at Worcester, June 7, 1827. The exercises were these : in- 
troductory prayer by Rev. Edward Beecher of Park Street Church, 
Boston : sermon by the Rev. Warren Fay of Charlestown : conse- 
crating prayer by Rev. Micah Stone of Brookfield : charge by Rev. 
Thomas Snell of North Brookfield : right hand of fellowship by Rev. 
Georo-e Allen of Shrewsbury: address to the people by Rev. John 
Fiske of New Braintree : concluding prayer by Rev. Dr. Codman 
of Dorchester. l 

PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 

A church was gathered of the Scotch emigrants, soon after their 
arrival in this town in 1719. They were accompanied, it is said, 
by the Rev. Edward Fitzgerald, from Londonderry, in Ireland, who 
pleached to the society during some months. They assembled for 
religious worship in the old garrison house, near the intersection of 
the Boston and Lancaster roads As the meeting house they at- 
tempted to rear was destroyed, it is probable, they continued to 
occupy this humble edifice. 

Little care was taken to preserve the memorials of this unoffen- 
ding but persecuted people, whose history discloses only the injus- 
tice and intolerance of our ancestors. Few facts can now be ascer- 
tained of their struggle with prejudices and hostility, which finally 
drove them away to seek asylum in other states. 

The number of Presbyterian communicants is said to have been 
nearly equal to those of the Congregational church. Mr. Fitzger- 
ald, being unable to procure proper maintenance, removed, before 
the settlement of Mr. Burr. The members of the first parish had 
proposed an union, and the Presbyterian clergyman had once been 
invited to occupy the pulpit vacated by the dismission of Mr. Gard- 
ner, for a single sabbath, when no candidate could be procured. 
The request was not repeated, and no encouragement was held out 
to him to remain. 

1 Rev. Mr. P.Iiiler has published a thanksgiving sermon, at Worcester, Nov. 29, 1832, 
on the importance of religious influence to national prosperity. 



192 PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. [1736. 

On the settlement of Mr. Burr, it was understood, that if the Pres- 
byterians would aid in his support, they should be permitted to place 
in the pulpit, occasionally, teachers of their own denomination, and 
the foreigners united with the other inhabitants. .After some time, 
finding their expectations would not be realized, they withdrew, 
and the Rev. William Johnston, was installed as their minister. 

It has been already stated, that they commenced the erection of a 
meeting house on the Boston road ; after the materials had been pro- 
cured, the frame raised, and the building was fast rising, a body of 
the inhabitants, assembled by night, hewed down and demolished the 
structure. The riotous act was sustained by the intolerant spirit of 
the day, and the injured foreigners were compelled to mourn in si- 
lence over the ruins of the altar, profaned by the hand of violence. 

Being compelled to contribute to the support of the Rev. Mr. Burr, 
an appeal was made to the justice of their fellow townsmen, in 1736, 
for relief from a tax inconsistent with their religious privileges, but 
without avail. The recorded answer to their application, furnishes a 
curious specimen of mingled subtlety and illiberality. 

' In answer to the petition of John Clark and others, praying to be 
[released] from paying towards the support of the Rev. Isaac Burr, 
pastor of the church in this town, or any other except Mr. Johnston, 
(or the ministry carried on after the Congregational way by the said 
minister of the church, according to the establishment of the Prov- 
ince, in this town) &c. the town, upon mature consideration, think 
that the request is unreasonable, and that they ought not to comply 
with it, upon many considerations : 

' 1. That it doth not appear in the petition, who they are that de- 
sire to be set off, only from the names of the subscribers ; [therefore] 
it would be for the town to act too much at random, to set them off 
on such a general request : 

1 2. That it doth not appear, that the petitioners, or others joining 
with them, have been actuated by just reasons, or any such princi- 
ples of conscience as should at all necessitate their forsaking the as- 
sembling themselves with us: for, as to the Westminister confession 
of faith, which they say they promised their adherence to at their 
baptism, it is the same which we hold, maintain, and desire to ad- 
here to. And as to the worship, discipline, and government of the 
church, as set forth by the assembly of divines at Westminster, they 
are not substantially differing from our own professed principles : As 
they themselves well know, they may enjoy the same worship, ordi- 



173G.] PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 193 

nances, and christian privileges, and means of their spiritual edifica- 
tion, with us, as in the way which they call Preshyterian, and their 
consciences not be imposed on in any thing : 

' 3. Inasmuch, also, as a number of those now withdrawing from 
is, were jointly concerned in the settlement of the Rev. Isaac Burr, 
mr present minister, and joined with us in church fellowship and 
communion, and we know not why it should be contrary to their con- 
sciences to continue with us in communion and worship, but have 
rather reason to suppose that their separation from us is from some 
irregular views and motives, which it would be unworthy of us to 
countenance : 

'4. We look upon the petitioners and others breaking off from us 
is they have done, [as] being full of irregularity and disorder; not to 
nention, that the ordination of their minister was disorderly, even 
with respect to the principles which they themselves pretend to act 
by, as well as with respect to us, to whom they stand related, and 
with whom they cohabit, and enjoy with us in common all proper 
?ocial, civil, and christian rights and privileges : their separating 
from us being contrary to the public establishment and laws of this 
province, contrary to their own covenant with us, and unreasonably 
weakening to the town, whose numbers and dimensions, the north 
part being excepted by the vote from paying to Mr. Burr, will not ad- 
mit of the honorable support of two ministers of the gospel, and tend- 
ing to cause and cherish divisions and parties, greatly destructive to 
our civil and religious interests, and the peace, tranquillity and hap- 
piness of the town : 

' Upon all which, and other accounts, the town refuse to comply 
with the request ;' and it was voted, by a great majority of the inhab- 
itants, that the petition be dismissed. 

All efforts to obtain justice, and protection for religious freedom, 
having proved unavailing, many of the Presbyterian planters remov- 
ed. Some joined their brethren of the same denomination, who un- 
der the pastoral charge of the Rev. Mr. Abercrombie, founded the 
town of Pelham, in Hampshire county, others united themselves 
with the society in Londonderry, N. H. and many emigrated to the 
colony on the banks of the Unadilla, in New York. 

The Rev. Mr. Johnston was settled in Londonderry in 1747. His 
connection was dissolved in July, 1753, ] not on account of impro- 
priety of conduct or disaffection of the people : but because pover- 
ty prevented them from affording proper support. 

1 Rev. Mr. Parker's Century Sermon. Londonderry, April 22, 1019. 

25 



194 SECOND SOCIETY. [1785. 

By the persuasion of the Rev. Mr. Dunlop, about thirty persons 
had been induced to remove from Londonderry, in 1741, to Cherry 
Valley, in Otsego county, New York. After the dismission of Mr. 
Johnston, he emigrated, with a little colony, to Unadilla, on the east 
side of the Susquehannah, in what was then called the Old England 
district. The unfortunate foreigners were destined to endure suffer- 
ing every where. Escaping from persecution, they encountered the 
horrors of Indian warfare. The celebrated Brant, visited the plan- 
tation, in 1777, and having called together the military officers, with 
Mr. Johnston, demanded supplies of provisions. The power of the 
red warrior enforced compliance. The inhabitants, plundered of 
their cattle, soon after, abandoned the town, and with their fami- 
lies took refuge in places of greater security. Some of them were 
involved in the massacres which desolated the ancient county oi 
Tryon. 1 

It is probable, Mr. Johnston was accompanied by some of his for- 
mer parishioners, and that the town of Worcester, at the south east 
corner of Otsego county, derives its name from their recollections oi 
the place of their first American settlement. 



CHAPTER XI. 

Second Congregational Society. Separation from the 6rst Parish. Difficulties. Churc! 
formed. Covenant. Rev. Aaron Bancroft ordained, 178G. Society incorporated 
1787. Rev. Alonzo Hill ordained, 1827. Votes of Parish and Church. Memoir o 
Rev. Dr. Bancroft. 

The history of the second congregational society is more remark- 
able for strong principles than striking incidents. 2 It was formed 
by the secession of members of the first parish. Difficulties, spring- 
ing from efforts to settle a colleague with the Rev. Mr. Maccarty 
multiplied and increased in the selection of a successor after his de- 
cease. Fixed differences of sentiment, diversity of taste, and dis 
cordant and conflicting opinions, interposed insuperable obstacles tc 

» Campbell's Annals of Tryon, 21. 27. G3. 
8 Free use has been made of two historical sermons of Doct. Bancroft, April 8, 1827 
and January 31, 1836, in the notice of the second society. 



1785.] SEPARATION FROM FIRST PARISH. 195 

union. Those embracing the doctrinal views of Mr. Bancroft, and 
desirous of attending his ministrations, after ineffectual attempts at 
reconciliation, withdrew from the religious community where the 
law had bound them. In a memorial to the legislature, they repre- 
sented, that ' town meeting after town meeting was productive 01 
heat, contention, and unchristian struggles for a major vote : the di- 
vision reached in its influence to private affairs, and to the civil and 
prudential concerns of the town. This being matter of notoriety, 
respectable persons in the neighborhood, urged, from the largeness 
of the town, the number of its inhabitants, their ability, and the ex- 
tensive duties of a minister, the expediency and necessity of settling 
two [clergymen.] Your petitioners readily agreed to, and pressed 
the proposal, in the March meeting of 1785, which was then reject- 
ed by a majority of votes, as was, also, a request for the liberty of 
forming into a separate religious society by themselves. Under these 
circumstances, seeing no prospect of union, desirous of a minister 
whose sentiments they approved, wishing the same indulgence to 
those who differed from them, weary of unprofitable contention, and 
finding every thing was to be carried by a major vote, without any 
attention to the wishes or feelings of the minor part, your petition- 
ers, judging it for the peace and happiness of the town, by a separa- 
tion to put an end to disputes that might embroil for years, withdrew.' 
A voluntary association was formed, in March, 1785, for the sup- 
port of public worship. Sixty seven individuals, by a written instru- 
ment, agreed to form a religious society, under a proper covenant ; 
to endeavor to procure an act of incorporation ; to apply to Mr. Ban- 
croft to settle with them, as their minister ; and severally, to pay their 
respective proportions of the sum of £ 150 annually, each accord- 
ing to the assessment of town rates, as salary. 

To this period, the inland parishes of Massachusetts had been 
marked out by geographical boundaries. The inhabitants within 
prescribed territorial limits, were united by the existing laws, with 
the society established within the precinct of their residence. Con- 
science was circumscribed by lines drawn on the map, and its exer- 
cise restrained by the monumental stakes and stones of civil jurisdic- 
tion. Voluntary association for religious worship, unsanctioned by 
the authority of government, was bold innovation, conflicting with 
the prejudices, as it violated the usages of the times. 1 The erection 

1 In 1757, a few families left the old parish in Leominster, and formed a society un- 
der Mr. John Rogers. The seceders were incorporated, as individuals, into a poll par- 
ish, without succession as a corporation. This body was dissolved on the death of the 
ministe' in 1789. 



196 SECOND SOCIETY. [1785. 

of a poll parish, bringing together those of similar opinions, with- 
out regard to local habitation, almost, if not entirely unprecedented, 
except in the metropolis, was strenuously resisted. The founders 
of the second society went forward, by one long stride, years in ad- 
vance of public opinion. They grasped firmly, and wrested from 
opposition, those rights, which, after the lapse of time, have been 
accorded as common privileges. 1 It is to their honor, to have taken 
the first step in establishing those principles of religious freedom, 
of which their venerable pastor, from youth to age, has been the 
fearless assertor. 

Meetings commenced on the third Sunday of March, 1785, in the 
Court House, and were held in that place until Jan. 1, 1792. The 
Rev. Mr. Bancroft was invited, and consented to become the min- 
ister, June 7, 1785. Of the associates, two men, and three or four 
females only, had been communicants. It became necessary to or- 
ganize a church. For this purpose, the following covenant was pre- 
pared by the pastor elect, which has been retained, unchanged, for 
half a century. 

' In the first place, we humbly renew the dedication of ourselves 
and offspring to the great God, who is over all, blessed forever : 

And we do hereby profess our firm belief of the Holy Scriptures 
contained in the Old and New Testaments. And taking them as 
our sole and sufficient rule of faith and practice, we do covenant to 
and with each other, that we will walk together as a Christian Soci- 
ety, in the faith and order of the Gospel. And we do hereby en- 
gage, as far as in our power, for all under our care, that we will live 
as true disciples of Jesus Christ, in all good carriage and behavior, 
both towards God and towards man. Professing ourselves to be i:i 
charity with all men who love the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity and 
truth. All this, we engage faithfully to perform, by divine assistance, 
for which we are encouraged to hope, relying on the mediation of 
Jesus Christ for the pardon of our manifold sins, and praying the 
God of all grace, through him, to strengthen and enable us to keep 
this, our covenant, inviolate and to establish and settle us, that at the 
second coming of Jesus, we may appear before his presence with 
exceeding joy.' 

Such was the instrument circulated among the families, deliber- 

1 Among- those most influential in the formation of the new society, were Levi Lin- 
coln, sen. Joseph Allen, Edward Bangs, Timothy Paine, Timothy Bigelow, and Isaiah 
Thomas. 



1786.] REV. AARON BANCROFT. 197 

ately considered, and fully approved. A public lecture was appoint- 
ed for the formal and solemn expression of assent. Two ministers, 
from neighboring towns, were invited to participate in the devotional 
exercises, but neither thought proper to attend. Such was the state 
of feeling existing in that period, that countenance or aid could not 
be expected or obtained, from the clergy or congregations of the vi- 
cinity. Standing thus isolated amid society, if a religious commu- 
nity was then formed, it must be founded, like the social compact 
of the May Flower, framed by the pilgrim fathers of New Eng- 
land, on the basis of original rights underived from human authority. 
At the time appointed, Mr. Bancroft preached on the constitution 
of the christian church and the nature and ends of gospel rites. 
The covenant was read to the people, and subscribed, in the presence 
of all who had assembled, by twenty-seven of those disposed to as- 
sume its obligations. 

On the first day of February, 1786, the Rev. Aaron Bancroft was 
ordained. So general was the opposition to a mode of organization 
then unprecedented, and, in the view of many, irregular and disor- 
derly, now authorised by liberalized legislation, that two churches 
only, in the county of Worcester, could be requested to assist in the 
solemnities, without strong probability of refusal. A council was 
formed with difficulty. The introductory prayer was offered by 
Rev. Dr. Simeon Howard, of the west church in Boston : the sermon 
preached by the Rev. Thomas Barnard of the north church in Sa- 
lem : the charge given by Rev. Timothy Harrington of Lancaster : 
the right hand of fellowship presented by Rev. Zabdiel Adams of Lu- 
nenburg : the concluding prayer made by the Rev. Dr. John La- 
throp, of the north church in Boston : and the benediction of Heaven 
implored, by the Rev. Timothy Hilliard of Cambridge. 1 

Great difficulties were overcome by the formation of the church 
and society, but formidable obstacles remained to impede its pro- 
gress. So deep was the feeling of hostility to both, that the mem- 
bers were subjected to unpleasant and injurious effects in the con- 
cerns of social and civil life. 

The constitutional provisions, as then applied by the statutes, fail- 
ed to afford perfect protection to the exercise of private judgment. 

1 ' Tlie members of the old church who joined the new society, had applied to that bo- 
dy for dismission, and their request had been denied: their case was, therefore, presen- 
ted to the consideration of the ordaining- council. The council advised the newly organ- 
ized church, not formally to admit the members of the old church into their body, but, 
by a special vote, to grant them all the privileges of members in regular standing. This 
was done.' Dr. Bancroft's Discourse, April 8, 1827. 



198 SECOND SOCIETY. [1787. 

The boundaries of the first parish, coextensive with those of the 
town, embraced the estates of the associates, and while they contrib- 
uted to the ' support of their own teacher, they were compelled to 
pay ministerial rates in the same manner as before the separation. 
At the period when pecuniary distress, decayed currency, and the 
pressure of public burdens and private debts, had driven the people 
into rebellion, the double taxation was peculiarly onerous. To as- 
sess the annual salary, or enforce the collection, in the usual man- 
ner, was impracticable. Monthly contributions were made, and the 
sums thus advanced, by individuals, credited in the final settlement 
of proportional payments. On the 13th of November, 1787, an act 
of incorporation was obtained, providing that any inhabitant might 
change his relations from one parish to the other, by leaving his name 
with the town clerk for the purpose. The first meeting of the par- 
ish was convened, on the warrant of Levi Lincoln, sen. March 9, 
1789. The associates, from the commencement, by a written agree- 
ment, had bound themselves to pay the sum of five hundred dollars as 
salary. After the incorporation, it was still deemed inexpedient to at- 
tempt the assessment of taxes. The amount due from each subscri- 
ber, for three years salary, was apportioned, and the pastor request- 
ed to settle personally with each individual. A mode of compensa- 
tion so troublesome and painful to the clergyman, was resorted to 
from necessity alone. 

In 1789, for the purpose of aiding in the erection of a meeting 
house, the Rev. Mr. Bancroft relinquished one third part of his an- 
nual salary, not, in the language of his letter, from a supposition that 
the whole was more than adequate to decent support, but from readi- 
ness to bear full proportion of all burdens. 1 It was voted, to erect 
a house for worship, provided it could be done without expense to 
the corporation. Subscriptions were obtained, the site fixed south 
of Antiquarian Hall, and the work commenced. On the first day 
of January, 1792, the edifice was completed and dedicated. A ser- 
mon was preached on the occasion, by the Rev. Zabdiel Adams of 
Lunenburg. The pews were sold, subject to an annual tax of four 
dollars each, to be appropriated towards the salary. 

Until this period, the expenses of the support of worship had been 
defrayed by voluntary payments. In 1797, for the first time, and af- 
terwards, in successive years, a tax of 8 232 was levied, making, 
with the amount derived from the owners of pews, the salary of 
$ 500. In 1806, in consequence of the enhanced prices of commod- 

1 Records of 2d Parish, i. 4. 



199 
lg27 -. REV. ALONZO HILL. 

it ies,an additional grant of S 200 was made to M,. Bancroft In 
1810 , 8-300 was voted, and for five year, ate, > 100 _ n^ J 
propriated for the same purpose. From 1816 to lb./, a .J 
«BQO- anbsemiently 8500, according to the original contract 
" o! he°fir fdTorjaLtr,, i^, the Rev. A,o„ Z e Hd. was m^ 

If L Scrmtn es bv Rev. Alexander Young of the New Sooth church, 
of the facriptures oy T ,, a(]deus M. Harris of Dorchester : ser- 

B ° St0n b ; ^riohn B - o^slttordamtng prayer, by Rev. Dr. 
■rT^K^nd President of Harvard University: charge, by 
Rt^T'Ba^f rS S of fellowship, by Rev. George Rip- 
17 Tl Purchase Street church, Boston: address to the people 
b/kev D, Nathaniel Thayer of Lancaster : concludmg prayer, b, 

„s meter at Le.cester Academy from 18*2, to the spring of 1824, 
and then pursued his stud.es in the theological mst„ut,on at Cam- 

^h/new brick church, erected b, the society on Main street, 
Jh f, m the Court House, was dedicated August 20, 1829, when 
■ all appropriate ^-^^K^ 
Jt^ ££ 1" hundred doners, which he had 

' • t^taAUr rprf- ved The parish, Jan. ~J, 

for a Ion* time previous, statedly receiveu. r » 

lor a long ui y « that while we deem superfluous any 

1827, unanimously resolved, mat wiuw 

j . n.v of the society, and its peaceful relations with its neigh- 
i The uninterrupted harmony of _the so. y P ^.^ rf ^ 

bors after the troubles of organization had subsided n ^ ^ ^ 

isfaction to its members. The following f^J^'^ wit if no t of truth. 

appended to Dr. Bancroft's Half Century Sermon, ^e^ Worcester , became 
"A stranger of distinction, having occasion to P« ^^Si in this tovvn . and he 

painted with the intent. .£. ££ ^^^ ^ you , w ho profess to 

to quarrel about it." rurk daughter of Hugh Hamilton Clark, for- 

- Rev. Mr. Hill marned Frances Mary CI.A dan he o g ^ ^ ^ 

m erl ym erchautofBoston,Dec.29,1830. Mr H.Uha p Worcester Sun- 

nation of Rev. Josiah Moore, at Athol, Dec. 8^ 183 . Re «U ° 
day School Society for 1835, 183b: sermon in Liberal Preacher, Aug 



Ofifl 

SECOND SOCIETY. ng3g 

encomiums upon Urn character and standing of him, whose praise 
has bug been m aU the churches, where Christianity, feed from 
human inventiohs, „ inculcated in its ; ■ we J^ ™ 

ful care over ,ts welfare, and readiness, at all times, to sacrifice 

history of the society, have distinguished the ministry of its pastor 
and winch, as the present act of unsolicited liberal! y affords ' 

::^ b iM ' in * «■ — - — i ** fore: 

The church, at a meetino- Marrh 1 1<5Q« , , . 

of the fidelity of the senior pasT ' ' ^^ the ' r ""* 

orgSion 1, M,' "" Cl,UrCh ' '" reVieWi " g US ^ *» ite ** 
organization feel deep cause of gratitude to God for its Ion. contin- 
uance as a church of Christ f„. ;,„ i, . * "" lun 

terrupted prosperity ' * harm ° nJ ' "^^ and Unin " 

' Resolved, that this church is much indebted, under God to the 
prudence, 2 eal, fidelity and untiring labors of its senior pas £ he 
Rev. Dr. Bancroft, under whose influence it was first gathered and 
by whom ,t has been ever watched over, guided and i str^S, 

with the tenderness of a father and ih. 1 7 , in ° tlucted > 

n e o i * i , • • Idmer , and the earnestness and solicitude 

of a devoted christian minister : Therefore °ncitude m 

the; 11 " !'?'; T hat thG ChUrCh tender t0 ** «"■ -nior pastor 

^"r£T ledgimntS 1 hi8paSt ^ a » d ** chrisul 
sympathy undei the growing infirmities of a weight of years spent 

Es issr the assurance *.^™-% je-js 

is di>er e d ed ;o That thG ^r 1 ^ ° f thG ChUrCh ' b6 ' - d he h -eby 

rs ou of 1 , FeSent ^ thG Re " Dr - BanCr ° ft ' tw0 h - d -d do" 

nnl of Z m °7 Sm thG treaSUry D0t0the -- disposed of, in 

SS^* h ^ «*"* fc WS P— • * character, 

ansTr T a V° *" ^ *"* W > 1836 ' Dr " B ™ croft -ites, in 
answer to a communication of these votes, < With you, I join in re- 

Zd/ d TTt t0 G ° d ' f ° r thG P^ and P* y which have 
r^ratl o T PrGSe tme - Y ° Ur a PP rob ^on of my services 

out ts , , 7 ' y ° Ur PeCUnIary d ° nati0n has int -»- value ; 

but its highest estimation in mv mind iq *h a • L 

the feplinrr« ™ u • i y ' ' the evide nce it bears of 

me reelings you cherish towards me.' 

1 Second Parish Records, ii. 46. 



1780.] REV. AARON BANCROFT. 201 

The Rev. Aaron Bancroft, D. D. born at Reading, Mass., Nov. 
10, 1755, was son of Samuel Bancroft, formerly an extensive land- 
holder, deacon of the west church of that town, field officer of 
militia, magistrate, and a useful and respected citizen. Engaged 
in the cultivation of the fields acquired by successful industry, the fa- 
ther considered agriculture as the best employment for his children, 
in times of political commotion, but yielded his own preference to 
the desire of the son for collegiate education. Mr. Bancroft com- 
menced the study of the languages, in the moving grammar school 
of his native place, and followed an incompetent instructor in his 
migrations through the districts. During the year, while the school 
was temporarily suspended, he labored, at intervals, on the paternal 
farm. The settlement of a new minister afforded a more capable 
teacher than the former. But during the few months of his tuition, 
the engagements of courtship and of building occupied so much 
of the attention of the master, that the pupil, after the daily walk of 
a mile, was left with the half recited or postponed recitation, to ex- 
plore his way unaided through the elementary difficulties of litera- 
ture. Mr. Bancroft entered Harvard College in 1774. The revo- 
lutionary movements of April, 1775, dispersed the students, and he 
went to his home, and worked steadily on the farm until the next 
October, when the scholars were called together at Concord, and in 
March of the following year, reassembled at Cambridge. The din 
of arms rose around the halls of the university. The great affairs 
of the country and the events of war, had deep interest for the gov- 
ernment of the institution, and the student was compelled to rely 
more on his own exertions for improvement than on the information 
imparted by the professors. Having graduated, in 1778, Mr. Ban- 
croft taught the town school of Cambridge for a few months, and 
then commenced his theological course with Mr. Haven, minister of 
his father's parish, a gentleman of fine intellect. In the autumn of 
1779, he first preached, for three or four sabbaths, for the occasion- 
al assistance of clerical friends. The severity of the succeeding win- 
ter, and the excessive depth of snow, almost suspended travelling, 
and he remained in the family of Mr. Haven, sometimes supplying 
his desk. A proposal from Mr. Barnard, of Yarmouth, Nova Sco- 
tia, to visit that province, was accepted in the spring of 1780. Mr. 
Bancroft obtained permission from the executive council of Massac- 
husetts, to leave the state, and resided in Yarmouth, Horton, Corn. 
wallis, Annapolis, and for a few weeks in Halifax, during an absence 
of three years. Peace having been restored, he returned from the 

26 



202 REV. AARON BANCROFT. [1785. 

British dominions in 1783, landed at Salem in July, and the next 
week was invited to Worcester, to supply the pulpit during the illness 
of Mr. Maccarty. Here, where his labors have been so long contin- 
ued, Mr. Bancroft first appeared as a candidate for settlement. Af- 
ter eight sabbaths, the temporary restoration of declining health, en- 
abled the minister to resume his duties. Mr. Bancroft was immedi- 
ately engaged in vacant parishes. In the spring of 1784, he was so- 
licited to become pastor of the church in that part of Stoughton now 
Canton, but felt constrained to decline. In the same year, he offi- 
ciated in East Windsor, Connecticut. In October, 1784, he again 
visited Worcester, and after conducting the religious services of five 
or six sabbaths, went to Sandwich, in the county of Barnstable, 
where the desire of the most influential members of the society to 
secure his permanent residence, was prevented from public and for- 
mal expression, by his own reluctance to receive a call. On a third 
invitation, he returned to Worcester, in Jan. 1785, and in March 
following, that connection was formed with the second congrega- 
tional society which has continued for more than fifty years. 

Unitarian sentiments, explicitly avowed, separated Mr. Bancroft 
from that friendly communication with professional neighbors, which 
lightens and cheers the labors of the clergyman, and for seven years, 
he stood almost alone. Within this period, he exchanged once a 
year with the Rev. Messrs. Harrington and Adams, occasionally 
with some ministers in Boston, and with one in Salem, and twice on- 
ly with others of the vicinity. Efforts of some liberal members of the 
clerical association of the county, to procure his admission, opposed 
by those who were unwilling to hold intercourse with one entertain- 
ing opinions they deemed heretical, drove the more tolerant from that 
body, and led to its temporary dissolution. It was afterwards rees- 
tablished on foundation less exclusive. In some years, when the 
enhanced prices of the necessaries of life, rendered a moderate sal- 
ary inadequate for comfortable maintenance, the deficiency of in- 
come was partially supplied by the emolument of instruction to young 
men, and to the daughters of parishioners, the reception of boarders, 
and literary labors. Most men would have yielded to depression of 
spirits under circumstances so disheartening, and sought easier task, 
and more peaceful position. The society, in its early days, embar- 
rassed by difficulties, and pressed by angry opposition, would, in all 
probability, have been dissolved, if unsiibtained by his perseverance 
and firmness. Much of the prosperity of later years was derived 



1821.] REV. AARON BANCROFT. 203 

from his pecuniary sacrifices, and unwearied exertions, or resulted 
from the independence and prudence of his course. 1 

The Life of Washington, in one volume octavo, came from the 
press in 1807. The popular and familiar style and faithful narrative 
of this work, gave it extensive sale. A stereotype edition in two 
volumes, 12mo, was published in Boston, in 1826, as one of the se- 
ries of Bedlington's Cabinet Library. 

In 1821, Dr. Bancroft delivered a series of doctrinal discourses, 
which were printed on the request of the hearers. Cn relation to 
these sermons, the late President John Adams, thus expresses him- 
self, Jan. 24, 1823. ' I thank you for your kind letter of Dec. 30th, 
and above all, for the gift of a precious volume. It is a chain of 
diamonds set in links of gold. I have never read, nor heard read, 
a volume of sermons better calculated and adapted to the age and 
country in which it was written. How different from the sermons 
I heard and read in the town of Worcester from the year 1755 to 
1758.' . . . . ' You may well suppose, that I have heard controver- 
sies enough : but, after all, I declare to you, that your twenty nine 
sermons have expressed the result of all my reading, experience, and 
reflections, in a manner more satisfactory to me, than I could have 
done in the best days of my strength.' 2 

1 One of his parishioners addressed the minister thus: 'Well, Mr. Bancroft, what do 
you think the people of the old society say of you now V ' Something good I hope/ 
was the reply. ' Why, ihey say, it is time to let you alone, for if they find fault with 
you, you do not regard it, and if they praise you, you do not mind it, but keep steadily 
on in your own way.' 

2 The publications of Dr. Bancroft are the following: 1. Sermon at the ordination of 
Rev. Samuel Shultlesworth, June 23, 1790, at Windsor, Vt. 2. Sermon before the 
Grand Lodge of Massachusetts, June 11, 1793, at Worcester. 3. Sermon on the ex- 
ecution of Samuel Frost, for murder, July 16, 1793, at Worcester. 4. Sermon at the 
installation of Rev. Clark Brown, June 20, 1798, at Brimfield. 5. Eulogy on General 
Washington, Feb. 22, 1800, at Worcester. 6. Election Sermon, May 27, 1801. 7. 
Address, on the importance of education, at the opening of a new building at Leicester 
Academy, July 4, 1806. 8. Life of Gen. Washington, Worcester, 1807. 8vo. pp. 
552. Stereotype, Boston, 1826. 2 vols. 12mo. 9. Sermon at the ordination of Rev. 
Nathan Parker, Sept 14, 1808, at Portsmouth, N. H. 10. Sermon before Society for 
promotion of christian knowledge, piety and charity, May 29, 1810, at Boston. 11. 
New Year's Sermon, Jan. 6, 1811. 12. Nature and worth of Christian Liberty, ser- 
mon, June 28, 1816, at Worcester, with an appendix, containing the history of Consoci- 
ation ; 2 editions. 13. Duties of the Fourth Commandment, sermon, Jan. 1817, at Wor- 
cester ; 2 editions. 14. Vindication of the result of a mutual council at Princeton, 
March, 1817. 15. Discourse on Conversion, April, 1818. 16. The Leaf an emblem of 
Human Life, sermon on the death of Mrs. Mary Thomas, Nov. 22, 1818. 17. The Doc- 
trine of Immortality, Christmas sermon, 1818. 18. Sermon at the installation of Rev. 
Luther Wilson, June 23, 1819, at Petersham. 19. Sermon before the Convention of 
Congregational Ministers, June 1, 1S20. 20. Sermons on the Doctrines of the Gospel, 



204 REV. AARON BANCROFT. [1836. 

On the 31st of January, 183fi, Dr. Bancroft delivered a discourse 
on the termination of fifty years of his ministry, afterwards printed 
in compliance with the request of the society, with interesting and 
valuable historical notes. ' If the question of improvement has re- 
spect to the menihers of the Society,' he says, ' who are the individ- 
uals to whom" J can appeal 1 They, who with me began their course 
of Christian improvement are removed from life ; but one man re- 
mains, of those who invited me to settle with them as their minister ; 
and but two women now live, who at that time were heads of fami- 
lies. I am the oldest man in the parish, with one exception, and his 
connection with us was but of yesterday. I have been longer in a 
married state with one wife, than any other living member of our 
community. I have outlived my generation ; and in the midst of 
society may be considered a solitary man.' 

Doct. Bancroft, was member of the Board of Trustees of Leices- 
ter Academy for thirty years, and long its President ; President of 
the Worcester County Bible Society ; of the American Unitarian 
Association, from its organization in 1825 to 1836 ; and of the 
Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, Piety, and Charity; 
Vice President of the Worcester and Middlesex Missionary Soci- 
ety, afterward merged in the Evangelical Missionary Society ; and 

Worcester, 1822, 8vo. pp. 429. 21. Mediation and ministry of Jesus Christ, sermon, 
Aug. 15, 1819. at Kcenc, N. H. 22. Moral purpose of Ancient Sacrifices, of the Mo- 
saic Ritual, and of Christian Observances, sermon, Aug. 15, 1819, atKeene, N. H. 23. 
Sermon at the installation of Rev. Andrew Bigelow, July 9, 1823, at Medford. 24. Du- 
ties of Parents, sermon, Aug. 10. 1823, at Worcester. 25. Sermon before the Auxilia- 
ry Society for meliorating the condition of the Jews, April 23, 1824, at Worcester. 26. 
Sermon at the funeral of Rev. Dr. Joseph Sumner, Dec. 30, 1824. 27. Sermon on the 
death of Prest. John Adams, July 19, 1826. 28. Sermon on the Sabbath following the 
ordination of Rev. Alonzo Hill, April 8, 1827. 29. Sermon at the dedication of the 
New Unitarian Meeting House, Aug. 20, 1829. 30-1-2. Sermons in Liberal Preacher : 
Office of Reason in the Concerns of Religion, July, 1827. Female Duties and Trials, 
August, 1823. Importance of Salvation, August, 1830. 33. End of the command- 
ments, sermon in Christian Monitor. 34. A Glance at the past and present state of 
ecclesiastical affairs in Massachusetts, in Unitarian Advocate, Jan. 1831. 35. Moral 
Power of Christianity, in Western Messenger, i. 350. 36. Sermon on the termination 
of fifty years of his ministry, Jan. 31, 1836. 

Dr. Bancroft was married to Lucretia, daughter of Judge John Chandler, Oct. 1786. 

1797. A clock for the tower was presented by Isaiah Thomas, Esq. to the Second 
Society, and an elegant folio Bible in two volumes, for the pulpit, by his lady. In 1817, 
the same liberal individual made a donation of two cups for the communion service: 
the old furniture of the table was given by the church to the Evangelical Missionary So- 
ciety, to be by them bestowed on some new church gathered under their auspices. 
1829. A donation of a baptismal basin was made by F. W. Paine, Esq. 1832. Na- 
thaniel Maccarty, Esq. bequeathed to the church $ 75. 



1812.] FIRST BAPTIST SOCIETY. 205 

of the American Antiquarian Society, from 181C to' 1832 : Fellow 
of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and member of 
other societies. His long continued and persevering exertions in 
the cause of education, contributed greatly to the introduction and 
establishment of the improved school system of the town. In 1S10 
he received the degree of Doctor of Divinity from Harvard Uni- 
versity. 

The oldest clergyman in the county of Worcester, and one of the 
most aged ministers of Massachusetts, Dr. Bancroft continues to of- 
ficiate in the pulpit. May that period be yet far distant, when bioo-- 
raphy shall speak fully of the merits of his works, the worth of his 
character, and the virtues of his life. 



CHAPTER XII. 

First Baptist Society. Formation 1812. Rev. William Bcntley. Articles of Faith. 
Rev. Jonathan Going. Rev. Frederic A. Willard. Rev. Jonathan Aklrich. Elm 
Street Society, 1S3C. Calvinist Society. Separation from first church, 1820. For- 
mation of Society, 1822. Rev. Loammi I. Hoadley. House and Fund bestowed by 
Hon. Daniel Waldo. Rev. John S. C. Abbott. Rev. David Peabody. Catholic 
Society, 1S3L Rev. James Fitton. Methodist Episcopal Society, 1834 Protestant 
Episcopal Society, 1035. Rev. Thomas H. Vail. Union Society, 1836. 

Previous to 1795, there were three persons, only, of the Baptist 
denomination in Worcester. 1 In the spring of that year, James 
Wilson, Esq., 2 emigrating from Newcastle upon Tyne, in England, 
took up his residence here. During the long period intervening be- 
tween 1795 and 1812, meetings for religious worship were sometimes 
held in his own house, when the casual visits of teachers offered op- 
portunity of obtaining the ministration of instructors of the order. 
Those of similar sentiments were successively removed by death ; 
their places were not filled : and for a time he remained the solitary 
advocate and supporter of those views of Christian ordinances as- 
serted by the church with which he was united. But, although alone, 

1 Dr. John Green, son of Thomas Green, founder of the Baptist church in Leicester, 
Mr. Amos Putnam, an aged member of the church in Charlton, and Mrs. Dolly Flagg, a 
female advanced in years, connected with the first Baptist church in Boston. 

2 James Wilson, Esq. Postmaster of Worcester from 1801 to 1833, deacon of the 
first Baptist church here from its foundation, removed, with his family, to Cincinnati, 
Ohio, in 1833. 



206 FIRST BAPTIST SOCIETY. [1812. 

he cherished the leading purpose of his life, and became the founder 
of the Baptist society. By his zealous and persevering exertions, 
an association was formed under favorable circumstances. Some 
discourses of Dr. Austin, on national and state fasts, gave offence to 
many of the eldest parish. The facilities for procuring ministers 
had increased. Accessions of numbers were derived from the 
swelling population. In 1812, lectures and devotional exercises 
were had, regularly on the Sabbath, and on other days of the week, 
in different places of the town. The Hall in the School House of 
the Centre District, was rented, and opened for stated worship on 
the Lord's Day, July 30, 1812. Opposition gave that excitement 
desirable to strengthen and cement union, even if higher feelings had 
not rendered the connection of the associates permanent. On the 
28th of September, Elder William Bentley, on the unanimous re- 
quest of the members of the association, entered into an engage- 
ment to preach for them on a salary of 8300 per annum, and an al- 
lowance of four Sundays of the year for visits. The sum appointed 
for his compensation was defrayed by the contribution of individu- 
als, parties to an agreement to pay the amount in proportions fixed 
by the terms of their subscriptions. On the 5th of November, a 
a meeting of those who held church membership was had, and it 
was voted, ' to form a church, by the name of ' the Baptist Church 
in Worcester,' and the following confession of faith was adopted.' 1 

' As the church of Christ is made up of a number of persons, who 
are renewed by divine grace, and united in the fellowship of the Gos- 
pel ; and as that fellowship consists in a unison of sentiments, inter- 
est and affection ; and as two cannot walk together, except they be 
agreed, we think it our duty to make the following declaration of 
our views of divine truth : for the satisfaction of any who may wish 
to unite with us in church fellowship; which declaration is as fol- 
lows : 

'We believe the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament were 
written by men divinely inspired, and that God requires of us, to be- 
lieve in, and embrace them as our only rule of faith and practice, 
and that among others they contain the following all important truths. 

' 1. The existence of one only, living, and true God, infinite in all 
excellence, immutable, eternal, self sufficient, and independent, who 
created all things, and who upholds, governs, and disposes of them 
for his own glory. 

1 The same articles had been adopted by the First Baptist Church, in Portland, Maine. 



1812.] ARTICLES OF FAITH. 207 

' 2. That in one God there are three persons, the Father, Son, and 
Holy Ghost ; the same in essence, and equal in every divine perfec- 
tion. 

' 3. That all God's works of creation, providence, and grace, ever 
have been, still are, and ever will be accomplished, according to his 
own will; which he purposed in himself before the world began. 

'4. That man was created holy, but, by wilfully violating the law 
of his Maker, he fell from his first rectitude; and as Adam was the 
father, and representative of all his posterity, we, in him, became 
wholly defiled and dead in trespasses and sins : so that by nature we 
are indisposed to all good, and wholly inclined to all evil : and are 
children of wrath, and subjects of death, and of all other miseries, 
temporal, spiritual, and eternal. 

' 5. That the only way of salvation from this state of guilt and con- 
demnation, is, through the righteousness, and atonement of Jesus 
Christ, who as the good shepherd, laid down his life for his sheep ; 
that he might redeem them from all iniquity, and purify to himself a 
peculiar people zealous of good works : and those only who receive 
the gift of repentance and faith in him, will be finally saved by the 
atonement. 

' G. That all, whoever have been or will be brought to repentance 
and faith in the gospel, were chosen in Christ to salvation, before the 
foundation of the world ; and that, in consequence of the eternal 
love of God to them, through the atonement, the Holy Ghost is sent 
to effect the work of regeneration in their hearts, without which re- 
generating influence, none would ever repent or believe. 

1 7. That the perfect righteousness of Christ, which he wrought out 
by his obedience and death, is reckoned or imputed to those who be- 
lieve, as the alone matter of their justification. 

' 8. That nothing can separate true believers from the love of God, 
but they will be kept by his power, through faith unto salvation. 

' 9. That the only proper subjects of the ordinances of baptism 
and the Lord's Supper, are professed believers in Christ ; and that 
baptism is properly administered, only by immersing the whole body 
in water, in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost : and is 
by Scripture example, a prerequisite to communion at the Lord's 
table. 

' 10. That the true church of Christ on earth, is made up of those, 
who are renewed by grace, partake of the Spirit of life in Christ 
Jesus, united in the fellowship of the truth, and are as lively stones 
built up in a spiritual house, to offer spiritual sacrifice, holy and ac- 



208 FIRST BAPTIST SOCIETY. [1812. 

ceptable to God by Jesus Christ. That the only officers to be or- 
dained in the church, are Bishops or teaching Elders, and Deacons. 
That those officers have no more power to decide matters for the 
church, than any other members. Yet we believe, so far as their 
gifts and graces may enable them to lead the church to a right judg- 
ment according to the Scriptures, we are^to submit to them, for they 
watch for our souls, as they that must give an account in the day of 
judgment. 

'11. That God hath appointed a day, in which he will judge the 
world in righteousness, by Christ Jesus, and that the bodies of both 
the righteous and the wicked, will then be raised from their graves 
and again united to their souls, and appear before God to be judged 
according to the deeds done in the body ; at which time the wicked 
will be sentenced to endless punishment, and the righteous be re- 
ceived into eternal glory and happiness, where they will be ever with 
the Lord.' 

The 9th of December was fixed for the constitution of the church, 
the reception of fellowship from others, and the installation of the 
pastor elect. The use of the old south meeting house was formally 
solicited, and obtained from the selectmen and assessors. The cler- 
gymen of the first and second societies were courteously invited to 
attend on the occasion. On the evening previous to the ceremonies, 
a note was sent by Dr. Austin, refusing to be present; declining to 
countenance proceedings which, in his view, indicated hostility to 
union, and interference with endeavors to promote the kingdom 
of Christ in the world ; declaring that Mr. Bentley, 'originally exci- 
ted by some, seconded by others, whose sectarian zeal carried them 
beyond a regard to several of the primary precepts of the Gospel, had 
commenced, and was prosecuting apartizan warfare against the har- 
mony and prosperity of the church and congregation under his care ;' 
complaining that the occupation of his pulpit would be 'against full 
expression of personal feeling, the rights of the christian ministry, the 
order of Christ's house, and the laws of the land :' and expressing 
' determination not officiously to interrupt,' and ' wish not to be inter- 
rupted, in the prosecution of a work, consigned to him, as he hoped, 
by the Redeemer of Zion.' This communication rendered a change 
of place necessary. Application was made to Dr. Bancroft for leave 
to occupy his desk, which was freely given, and the exercises of in- 
stallation were in the meeting house of the second parish. The first 
church in Providence, and the churches in Leicester, Charlton, Graf- 



1812.] REV. WILLIAM BENTLEY. 209 

ton, and Sutton, by their elders or delegates were represented in 
council. Discourses were preached, in the forenoon, by the Rev. 
Joseph Cornell, and in the afternoon, by Rev. Stephen Gano of Prov- 
idence. The right hand of fellowship was tendered by the latter 
elder. The church, at this time, numbered fourteen males, and 
fourteen females, among its members. 

The erection of a meeting house was commenced, May 29, 1813. 
It was placed on the slight eminence, eastward from the burial place, 
adjoining the common. The site was purchased for the considera- 
tion of 8 100, by subscription of the church, and conveyed to their 
committee, in trust for the society. The building was completed, 
Dec. 13, of the same year, at an expense of 8 2459, principally de- 
frayed by the sale of pews. It was dedicated, Dec. 23, 1813, when 
a sermon was preached by Elder Bentley. 

Elder William Bentley first followed the business of a baker in Bos- 
ton. He received ordination, and settled in the ministry, at Tiv- 
erton, R. I. Well fitted to be the pioneer of a religious enterprise, 
he was called thence by the society founded in Worcester, in its in- 
fancy. He removed to Wethersfield, in Connecticut, after a few 
months : was pastor of the church there : and has since been much 
employed in missionary exertions. 

On the 30th of June, 1815, Mr. Bentley asked and received dis- 
mission. On the third of November following, the Rev. Jonathan 
Going accepted a call to settle as successor, on a salary of 8 400 an- 
nually. Having been previously ordained as a minister of the Gos- 
pel, there were no public ceremonies on assuming the office in Wor- 
cester. The stipend was increased by occasional grants. In 1819, 
it was 8500 : in 1820, 8600 : the next year, 8550 : from 1823 to 
1S26, the original compensation of 8 400 was paid ; afterwards 8 500. 

An act of incorporation was obtained, June 8, 1819, and the first 
meeting of the parish held, August 16, under the warrant of Hon. 
Daniel Waldo. 

In April, 1831, the Rev. Mr. Going had leave of absence from 
parochial and pastoral duties, to enable him to prosecute a journey 
to the West, for the restoration of health, and for missionary labors. 
In January, 1832, he requested dismission. During a ministry of 
sixteen years, the society had increased from a handful to a large 
congregation. The connection of pastor and parish had been one of 
uninterrupted harmony. The intimation of his intention to remove, 
was received with ' an expression of regret by words and tears, that 
circumstances had led to this result.' ' Do you then,' he says, in a 

27 



210 FIRST BAPTIST SOCIETY. [1831. 

communication to the church, ' ask me, why leave us ? My answer 
is ; not that I love the Baptist church and society in Worcester less ; 
but that I love the body of Baptists, and the multitudes who are des- 
titute in the United States, more. During my whole ministry, I 
have felt constrained by a sense of duty, to devote much attention to 
works of religious charity, and, especially, for several years past, 
more time than is consistent with the highest advantages of a partic- 
ular church. Besides, I have felt a deep solicitude, for some years, 
in the moral condition of the West. And my late tour has settled 
that solicitude, in full conviction of my duty to devote myself to the 
interests of home missions, particularly, in the Valley of the Missis- 
sippi. Plainly, a mighty effort must be made ; and by the body of 
evangelical christians in the Atlantic States ; and made soon ; or 
ignorance and popery, heresy and infidelity, will entrench them- 
selves too strongly to be repulsed. And, in that case, it is morally 
certain, that our republic will be overturned, and our institutions, 
civil and religious, will be demolished.' . . . .' To the existence and 
success of the projected Baptist Home Mission Society, it is indis- 
pensable, that the whole time and energies of some man should be de- 
voted ; and our friends, whose opinions ought to determine questions 
of this sort, have said this work belonged to mc.' 

In complying with the request of Mr. Going, and dissolving his 
connection, church and parish strongly expressed affection for his 
person, respect for his character, and gratitude for his services. 

The Rev. Jonathan Going, was born at Reading, in Windsor 
county, Vt. March 7, 1786. After brief attendance on the common 
schools of a country then recently planted, he commenced prepara- 
tions for college, in 1803, at the academy of New Salem, Mass ; en- 
tered Brown University in 1805; graduated in 1809; and read di- 
vinity with the late president of that institution, the Rev. Dr. Asa 
Messer. In May, 1813, he received ordination, as the first settled 
minister of Cavendish, in his native county, where he resided until 
December, 1815. He then assumed the pastoral charge of the Bap- 
tist church in Worcester, which was retained for sixteen years. In 
January, 1832, it was resigned, for the purpose of accepting the of- 
fice of Corresponding Secretary of the American Baptist Home Mis- 
sion Society. He has since resided in the city of New York, in the 
discharge of its duties. 

In the early part of his ministry here, Mr. Going instructed the 
Latin Grammar school durihg one year. In the arduous labors 
which matured the improved system of education, and superintend- 



1832.] REV. J. GOING. REV. F. A. WILLARD. 211 

ed its operations in elevating the common schools of the town to high 
excellence, he bore active and efficient part. The registers, indica- 
ting the degree of fidelity in the teacher and assiduity of the pupils, 
were introduced by him. One of the first Sabbath schools of the 
county was established, under his direction, in the Baptist society 
in Worcester. 

Mr. Going received the degree of Master of Arts, at Brown Uni- 
versity and the University of Vermont, in 1818 ; and that of Doctor 
of Divinity from Waterville College, Me. in 1832. In addition to 
the preparation of reports, addresses, and papers for periodicals, he 
has been, two years, editor of the American Baptist, a religious news- 
paper published weekly in New York. 

The paternal ancestors of Mr. Going, were from Scotland : .the 
maternal, from England. Robert Going, or Gowing, came from 
Edinburgh, settled in Lynn, Mass. at an early period, and was admit- 
ted freeman, in Dedham, Mass. in 1G4L The father of the subject 
of this notice, Capt. Jonathan Going, born in Lunenburgh, Mass. 
1761, and still living in the state of New York, married Sarah Ken- 
dall of Dunstable, Mass. in 1785. 1 

The Rev. Frederic A. Willard, who had supplied the pulpit three 
months previously, was elected pastor, without dissenting voice, Jan- 
uary 2, 1832, and a salary of 8 500, was voted. The first Baptist 
church in Boston, the churches of Leicester, Spencer, West Boylston, 
Grafton, Sutton, Northampton, and the Newton Theological Sem- 
inary, attended in council at the ordination, on the 18th of the same 
month. The Scriptures were read by Rev. John Green, of Leices- 
ter ; the introductory prayer offered by Rev. Otis Converse of Graf- 
ton : the sermon preached by Professor Henry J. Ripley of the Sem- 
inary in Newton : the church and people addressed by Rev. Jona- 
than Going : the right hand of fellowship offered by Rev. William 
Hague of Boston : and the concluding prayer made by Rev. John 
Walker of Sutton. 

Regarding the evils of intemperance, and its desolating effects 
on the happiness of individuals, public and private virtue, and the 
welfare of the community, it was declared, May 22, 1834, to be the 
strong and deliberate conviction of the church, that the time had ar- 
rived, when no professed disciple of Christ, could manufacture, buy, 
sell, or use, ardent spirit, as a drink, without being guilty of immor- 
ality, and violating his profession as a christian : and it was resol- 

1 Rev. Jonathan Going married Lucy Thorndike, of Dunstable, Mass. August 1811. 



212 FIRST BAPTIST SOCIETY. [1835. 

ved, that entire abstinence from the manufacture, use, and sale of 
this article, should be an invariable condition for membership and 
good standing. 1 

The father of Rev. Frederic A. Willard, Benjamin Willard, former- 
ly of Lancaster, an elder of the Baptist Church, now resident in 
Northampton, personally conducted the early literary education of 
the son : the closing portion of studies preparatory to entering col- 
lege, was pursued under the direction of Rev. Abiel Fisher, then 
of Bellingham, Mass. He graduated at Amherst college, 182G. 
Durino- the year following, Mr. Willard was connected with the Clin- 
ical School of Medicine, at Woodstock, Vt : in 1827, was matricu- 
lated as member of the Newton Theological Institution, and receiv- 
ed professional diploma in 1830. In 1831, an appointment by the 
trustees of Waterville College in Maine, to the Professorship of Chem- 
istry was declined. After leaving his official station in Worces- 
ter, he accepted an invitation to become pastor of the first Baptist 
church, in Newton, Mass. where he now resides. 2 

On the 30th of July, 1835, Mr. Willard resigned his office. On 
the 17th of October following, the Rev. Jonathan Aldrich was elect- 
ed his successor. The annual salary has been 8 700. 

The services at the public recognition of this gentleman, Oct. 
27, 1835, were : reading of Scripture by Rev. George Waters of 
Holden : prayer by Rev. Charles O. Kimball of Methuen : sermon 
by Rev. Baron Stow of Boston : charge by Rev. Abisha Sampson 
of Southborough : hand of fellowship by Rev. Frederic A. Willard : 
address to the church and society by Rev. Charles Train of Framing- 
ham : prayer by Rev. John Walker of Sutton : benediction by Rev. 
Mr. Aldrich. 

Rev. Jonathan Aldrich, son of Asquire Aldrich, a worthy farm- 
er of St. Johnsbury, Vt. prepared for college in the Academy of 
Peacham, Vt. and under the tuition of Rev. Mr. Fisher of Belling- 
ham : received his degree from Brown University, 1826 : pursued 
theological studies in the Newton Seminary : was ordained at Ded- 
ham, Mass. in December, 1827, where he remained nearly three 
years : installed at Beverly, Mass. May 1830 : and at East Cambridge 
in June 1833. 3 

1 Oct. 2, 1827. A bequest of $1000 was made to the society by the last will and tes- 
tament of Mr. John Goodale, who died May 2, 1827, aged 82, and it was voted to erect 
a monument lo his memory, with a suitable inscription. 

2 Mr. Willard married Mary, daughter of Seth Davis, Esq. of Newton, May 1, 1835. 

3 Mr. Aldrich married Catherine P. daughter of Mr. Asa Lewis, formerly of Boston, 
since of Worcester, April 2, 1828. 



1819.] CALVINIST SOCIETY. 213 

It had been considered expedient to form a second society. Mr. 
John Flagg, Isaac Davis, Esq, and Deacon Daniel Goddard, were 
incorporated, April C, 1836, with their associates and successors, as 
proprietors of the Elm Street Baptist meeting house. A site was pur- 
chased for the building, westward from the Worcester House. Af- 
ter the destruction of the place of worship of the first Baptist church 
by fire, the members of the new association reunited with the origin- 
al parish, in rearing another edifice on the spot before occupied with 
that which had been burned. 

CALVINIST SOCIETY. 

About the period of the settlement of the Rev. Mr. Goodrich, dif- 
ficulties arose in the first parish, increased and extended upon the sep- 
aration of Rev. Dr. Austin, and by the disciplinary measures institut- 
ed against the disaffected. Deacon David Richards, and four other 
members, retired from the watch of the church, and from the sup- 
port of the society, and on the 16th of January, 1819, asked to be 
dismissed and recommended to other churches. The request was 
crranted, so far only as related to dismission, but recommendation 
was refused. Five applicants, at the same time, for similar purposes, 
had leave to withdraw their petitions. Nine individuals more, 
soon after, united with the former, in soliciting the dissolution of 
their relations, and the customary credentials of good standing, with 
the expressed intention of forming a new society. The reason as- 
signed by all, in substance, was, that they could not experience edifi- 
cation and improvement from the ministrations of the pastor. The 
church declined compliance with the request. Those who consid- 
ered themselves aggrieved by its decision, immediately invited an 
ecclesiastical council, to consider their situation, determine the pro- 
priety of establishing a separate and distinct church, and effect its 
organization if deemed expedient. By their ministers and delegates, 
the Old South Church in Boston, and the churches of Charlestown, 
Northbridge, Millbury, Upton, Ward, and Sutton, met, on the 17th 
of February, 1819. The Rev. Jedediah Morse was elected moder- 
ator. Their result recommended those who had already been dis- 
missed, to the fellowship of churches, to which they were afterwards 
united. The council paused here, and awaiting further light from 
future events of Providence, adjourned their session, but were not 
again called to assemble. On the 18th of March succeeding, sev- 
enteen persons asked dismission and recommendation. The first 
church proposed to submit the regularity of their anterior proceed- 



214 CALVINIST SOCIETY. [1822. 

ings, and the propriety of granting the pending application, to the 
decision of a mutual council, which was declined. It was subse- 
quently voted, that the church did not feel able to comply with the 
request, nor willing to reject it, but were in doubt, and wished for 
advice. A final answer was waived ; the members did not renew 
their petition, but joined the Baptist Society in April, although they 
continued to commune with the first church. On the 2d of June, 
1820, acting on the principle, that uniting and worshiping with ano- 
ther denomination, and withholding pecuniary support, was virtual 
separation, it was declared, that the individuals not dismissed, had, 
by their own acts, cut themselves off from the privileges of the first 
church. Thus parted from all relations with any religious associa- 
tion, they invited an ecclesiastical council, which convened, Aug. 16, 
1820, from the churches in Franklin, Northbridge, Sutton, Upton, 
Wrentham, Ward, and Park Street in Boston. Rev. Nathaniel Em- 
mons of Franklin, was elected moderator. The result, expressed 
approval of constituting a regular church from the applicants, and 
it was accordingly organized. 1 

Subsequently, proposals were made by the first church, on condi- 
tions which were considered exceptionable, to submit to a mutual 
council the whole subject of the subsisting difficulties. Conferen- 
ces were held by committees of the two bodies, terminating, after 
long negotiation, in the conclusion, that it was possible only to agree 
to remain separate. 

On the 8th of February, 1822, a meeting of the Calvinist church, 
and of those associating with them for religious purposes, was held, 
for the organization of a society, according to the laws of the Com- 
monwealth. Daniel Waldo, David Richards, William McFarland, 
John W. Hubbard, Moses N. Child, Samuel Taylor, Benjamin God- 
dard, and Jonas Parker, bound themselves, to defray, out of their 
private property, the expenses of supporting public worship for five 
years, deducting such sums as might be voluntarily contributed by 
others. 

Regular worship was commenced, on the first Sabbath of April, 
1822, in the Court House. The pulpit was supplied by Rev. Thom- 
as J. Murdoch, then late of Portland ; Mr. Washington Smith of 
Hadley, since ordained in St. Albans, Vt ; Mr. Elam Clark, after- 

1 Full narrative of the proceedings, elaborate discussion of their regularity, and am- 
ple exposition of the views of the contending parties, are contained in the series of pub- 
lications enumerated on page 189. The whole are contained in an octavo volume in 
the Library of the American Antiquarian Society. 



1822.] REV. LOAMMI IVES HOADLEY. 215 

wards settled in Providence, R. I ; Mr. Joseph Torrey of Salem, sub- 
sequently minister of Royalston, Vt. and thence called to be Profes- 
sor of Languages in the University of Vermont. 

The Rev. Loammi Ives Hoadley preached his first sermon to the 
congregation, Oct. 20, 1822, under an engagement for two or three 
sabbaths. He was afterwards induced to remain, reserving liberty 
to retire at pleasure. In March, 1823, he was invited to Taunton. 
The church immediately requested his permanent settlement as their 
pastor. The concurrence of the society was given to this call, on 
the 14th of April following. The stated salary was $ 800 : and pro- 
vision was made, that pastor or parish might dissolve the contract, af- 
ter one year's previous notice of desire to separate. The ordination 
services took place October !•">, 1823. The introductory prayer was 
offered by Rev. Joel Hawes of Hartford, Conn : the sermon preach- 
ed by Rev. Lyman Beecher of Litchfield, Conn : ordaining prayer 
made by Rev. Edmund Mills of Sutton, moderator of the council : 
the charge delivered by Rev. Elisha Fiske of Wrentham : the right 
hand of fellowship presented by Rev. Baxter Dickinson of Long Mea- 
dow : the address to the people was by Rev. William B. Sprague of 
West Springfield : and the concluding prayer by Rev. Benjamin 
Wood of Upton. 

A committee of the first church had appeared before the council, 
instructed to object to proceedings conforming to the request of 
' those persons styling themselves the Calvinist Church.' Most of 
them, it was stated, in a protest offered by the chairman, held such 
attitude, that they could not, with propriety, be recognized as a reg- 
ular church of Christ : they were considered as under censure : 
having rejected proposals of settling controversy by the intervention 
of mutual council, they could not, consistently with the objects of 
discipline, be held in fellowship, collectively or individually, until 
proofs of penitence for the fault of separation, or the judgment by 
which they had been sent forth should be overruled by a competent 
tribunal. The council determined, that the official result constitut- 
ing the Calvinist church, was evidence of its regular existence ; 
disclaimed authority to reverse the acts of the ecclesiastical body 
for its organization ; and declined receiving the remonstrance. 

A meeting house had been erected by the Hon. Daniel Waldo, at 
the cost of about $ 14,000, on Main street. The dedication was 
had on the same day with the ordination, and the society removed 
from the Court House, to their permanent place of worship. Selec- 
tions from the Scriptures were read by Rev. Benjamin B. Wisner of 



216 CALVINIST SOCIETY. [1825. 

the Old South church in Boston ; prayer offered by Rev. Samuel 
Green of the Essex street church in Boston ; and the sermon deliv- 
ered by Rev. Dr. Samuel Austin, then of Newport, R. I. 

The house, and the land upon which it was built, were conveyed, 
July 9, 1825, by Mr. Waldo, for the use and benefit of the church 
and society. A donation of five thousand dollars was added to this 
great benefaction. The income and interest were secured to be ap- 
propriated towards the payment of the salary of such pastor as should 
have been elected, ordained, and settled, conformably to the rules. 
and usages of congregational calvinistic churches and societies in 
this Commonwealth. ' The Trustees of the Parochial Funds of the 
Calvinist society in Worcester,' were incorporated, Feb. 2, 1827, by 
an act of the legislature, to hold the property upon the trusts declar- 
ed in the instruments of conveyance. Vacancies in the corporation 
are filled by the votes of owners of pews. 

On the 28th of June, 1828, several of the most honored among the 
calvinistic clergymen of Massachusetts, visitants of the town on oc- 
casion of special devotional exercises, in view of the difficulties so 
long existing, and of their unhappy consequences to the parties and 
the cause of religion, by letter of advice, expressed the opinion, that 
the controversies should, without delay, be adjusted. Although they 
considered the doings of the First church, in the discipline of the 
persons organized as the Calvinist church, and those of the latter 
association, in rejecting proposals for a mutual council, as errone- 
ous, and not, in all respects, in accordance with strict ecclesiastical 
rule, yet, they considered, that each might, consistently with duty, 
acknowledge the other as a church of Christ. In compliance with 
their earnest recommendation, on the following day, the members of 
both churches united in participating the sacrament of the Lord's 
Supper, as a public testimonial of intention to reestablish and main- 
tain christian fellowship. 

The illness of Mr. Hoadley, requiring temporary relinquishment of 
labor, his request for dismission was granted, June 5, 1S29, and the 
sum of 8 500 voted, to aid him in defraying unavoidable expenses 
while seeking means of support in some mode less detrimental to 
health than ministerial duties. 

The Rev. Mr. Hoadley, a native of Northford, New Haven coun- 
ty, Conn, graduated at Yale College in 1818, and studied at the The- 
ological Seminary, in Andover, with which he was connected after 
his removal from Worcester. He now resides in Charlestown, Mass. 

On the 9th of December, 1829, the Rev. J. S. C. Abbott accept- 



1812.] REV. JOHN S. C. ABBOTT. 217 

ed the unanimous invitation to become successor to Mr. Hoadley, 
with a salary of 8 900. The churches of Millbury, Paxton, Leices- 
ter, Hartford, Shrewsbury, Holden, West Boylston, Sutton, Boyls- 
ton, Ward, Cambridge, Cambridgeport, Grafton, the church in the 
Theological Seminary at Andover, the Old South and Union church- 
es in Boston, the Presbyterian church in Millbury, and the First 
church in Worcester, were represented in the ordaining council, 
January 28, 1830. These were the exercises : prayer by Rev. John 
Nelson of Leicester ; sermon by Rev. Joel Hawes, of Hartford, 
Conn.; ordaining prayer by Rev. Samuel Green, of the Union 
church, Boston ; right hand of fellowship by Rev. Nehemiah Ad- 
ams, of Cambridge ; concluding prayer by Rev. John Boardman, of 
West Boylston. 

The articles of faith, originally adopted in 1820,were copied from 
those of the first church. In 1831, a confession, more brief in form 
and simpler in language, expressing, substantially, the same views of 
Christian doctrine, was adopted. 

' 1. We believe that there is one God, the Creator, and rightful 
disposer of all things, existing as Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, and 
that to these three persons, as the one God, all divine perfections 
are to be equally ascribed. 

' 2. That the Bible was given by inspiration of God, as the only 
unerring rule of faith and practise. 

' 3, That mankind are fallen from their original rectitude and are, 
while in a state of nature, wholly destitute of that holiness which is 
required by the divine law. 

' 4. That Jesus Christ, the Eternal Word, became man, and by 
his obedience, sufferings, and death, made an atonement for the sins 
of the world. 

' 5. That they, and they only, will be saved in consequence of the 
merits of Christ, who repent of sin and believe in him. 

' 6. That although the invitations of the gospel are such that all 
who will may come, and take of the waters of life freely : yet the 
wickedness of the human heart is such, that none will come, unless 
drawn by the special influence of the Holy Spirit. 

' 7. That the sacraments of the New Testament are Baptism and 
the Lord's Supper : baptism to be administered only to believers and 
their households, and the supper only to believers in regular church 
standing. 

' 8. That God has appointed a day in which he will judge the 
28 



218 CALVINIST SOCIETY. [1835. 

world, when there will be a resurrection of the dead, and when the 
righteous will enter on eternal happiness and the wicked will be sen- 
tenced to eternal misery.' 

In consequence of the earnest exertions of philanthropists to pro- 
mote temperance, the church, Feb. 28, 1833, by resolutions, de- 
clared, that dealing in ardent spirits was considered an immorality ; 
and that it was the duty of the members to abstain totally from the 
use and traffic, except in case of necessity and as medicine. 

The health of Mr. Abbott declined, and he was compelled to so- 
licit dismission, January 17, 1835. The records bear testimony of 
the reluctance with which both church and parish acquiesced in the 
dissolution of a connection of uninterrupted harmony, and to their 
deep sense of the merits of their pastor. 

The Rev. John Stevens Cabot Abbott, second son of Mr. Jacob 
Abbott, was born in Brunswick, Maine. Having resided with his 
father's family in Hallowell, he entered Bowdoin College 1821, and 
they returned to dwell in the place of his nativity. He graduated 
in 1825, and was assistant teacher in the Academy at Amherst, 
Mass. during the succeeding year. The regular course of studies 
was pursued at the Theological Seminary in Andover, and soon af- 
ter leaving that institution, he was invited, in 1830, to Worcester. 
His fidelity, social, moral, and religious worth, talents, and use- 
fulness, secured affection as they commanded respect. Impaired 
health rendered it necessary to ask dismission, to the great regret of 
his people. Having partially recovered, he was installed pastor of 
the Eliot church, in Roxbury, Nov. 25, 1835, where he now resides. 

In the spring of 1S33, Mr. Abbott published ' The Mother at 
Home,' and in November of the same year, ' The Child at Home.' 
Both these works have been republished in England, and have pas- 
sed through numerous editions here. In September, 183G, ' The 
Path of Peace ' was issued from the press. He has also printed two 
or three smaller works without his name. 1 

In May 1835, Rev. David Peabody, the present clergyman, was 
elected pastor, and a salary of 8 1000 annually granted. At the 
installation, July 15, the exercises were these : record of the proceed- 
ings of the council read by the scribe, Rev. William P. Paine of Hol- 
den ; introductory prayer by Rev. David Perry of Hollis, N. H ; 

1 Mr. Abbott married Jane Williams Bourne, daughter of Abner Bourne, Esq. of Bos- 
ton, Aug. 17, 1830. Four of the brothers of J\lr. Abbott are id the ministry, or nearly 
closing their preparatory studies. 



1834.] CATHOLIC SOCIETY. 219 

sermon by Rev. Dr. Thomas II. Skinner, of the Theological Insti- 
tution at Andovcr ; installation prayer by Rev. John Nelson of Lei- 
cester ; fellowship of the churches by Rev. William P. Paine of Hol- 
den ; charge by Rev. Osgood Herrick of Millbury ; address to the 
people by Rev. John Wilde of Grafton; concluding prayer by Rev. 
Elijah Paine of West Boylston. 

Rev. David Peabody, born in Topsfield, Essex county, Mass. 
graduated at Dartmouth College, 1828 : commenced his theological 
studies in the institution at Andover, Mass. which were completed 
at the Union Seminary, Va: and was first settled over the First Con- 
gregational church in Lynn, Mass. Nov. 15, 1832. ' 

Nineteen members of the church, considering the rapid increase 
of the population of the town and the necessity of providing greater 
facilities for public worship, asked to be dismissed, for the purpose of 
forming a third orthodox congregational society. Consent to their 
request, Jan. 8, 1830, was accompanied with the expression of chris- 
tian sympathies, and of an earnest desire that the Great Head of the 
Church would bless and prosper them, and the enterprise in which 
they were engaged. 

ROMAN CATHOLIC SOCIETY. 

When the Blackstone Canal was commenced, many catholic em- 
igrants were brought into the vicinity. Religious exercises were oc- 
casionally held during the construction of that work. In 1834, the 
Rev. James Fitton commenced visiting the town, once each month. 
In April of that year, the catholics in Worcester, were four families 
and about twenty unmarried persons. To afford them the means 
of assembling for divine worship, he laid the foundations of a small 
church on Temple Street, July 7, 1834. The execution of great 
undertakings of public improvement, and other causes, have since 
greatly increased the number. Accessions of individuals, uniting 
themselves to the society, and coming from other places, rendered it 
necessary to enlarge the church. Those who attend its services 
from Worcester and its vicinity are nearly three hundred. 

The Rev. James Fitton, is a native of Boston. His early studies 
were pursued in that city until 1812, when he visited Canada, to ac- 

1 Mr. Peabody married Maria Brigham of Cambridgeport, Sept. 11, 1C34. His 
father, John Peabody, descended in the fourth generation from Francis Peabody, who 
derived family ancestry from Wales, emigrated about 1680 from England, and became 
a land holder in Topsfield. The name was anciently written Pabodie. 



220 METHODIST SOCIETY. [1834. 

quire the languages and other branches of education, under private 
tuition. Returning to Boston, he studied theology with the Rt. Rev. 
Bishop Fenwick. In December 1827, he was ordained, and appoint- 
ed to official duty in the church of the Holy Cross. In 1828, he 
held the twofold office of pastor and teacher to the Indians of Maine. 
He was, in 1830, designated as pastor of Trinity Church in Hart- 
ford, Conn, and employed in that city, and on missionary circuits 
through the neighboring country for the distance of an hundred 
miles, till a church and resident minister were obtained in New Ha- 
ven, and an assistant in Hartford. Soon after, his monthly visits to 
Worcester began, and, in May 183G, he removed to this town. 

Since his residence here, Mr. Fitton has established two schools, 
one in the basement of the church for children, the other for high- 
er branches of education, for boys exclusively, called Mount Saint 
James Seminary, on the ancient Pakachoag hill. 1 

METHODIST EPISCOPAL SOCIETY. 

The Methodist Episcopal church in Worcester was commenced 
in the winter of 1834. Eight or ten persons who had become inhab- 
itants of the town, attached to the Methodist institutions, formed a 
class, according to the regulations of that denomination. In the 
spring of the same year, with their associates, they organized a re- 
ligious society for the purpose of supporting public worship. 

The use of the Town Hall was obtained for meetings. The Rev. 
J. A. Merrill preached for the first three months. At the June ses- 
sion of the New England Conference of the Methodist Episcopal 
church for 1834, Rev. George Pickering was stationed in Worcester, 
and continued in the pastoral charge of the society for one year. 
He was succeeded by Rev. John T. Burrill, who still continues to 
officiate as the regular minister. 2 

1 The works translated and compiled by Rev. Mr. Fitton, beside a number of pam- 
phlets, are: Youths directory: Boston. 18mo. pp.250: Triumph of religion : Bal- 
timore. 2 vols : lSmo: History of Palestine : Baltimore. 2 vols. ISmo: Compan- 
ion to the Sanctuary : Hartford. 18mo. pp.220. 

2 The Catholic, Methodist, and Episcopal Societies, embracing the distinctive gener- 
al tenets of the denominations to which they severally belong, have no articles of faith 
peculiar to the individual local churches. 

A summary of the doctrines and discipline of the Methodist Episcopal Church in the 
United Slates, will be found in the appendix to Kay's edition of Buck's Theological Dic- 
tionary. 

As the Methodist ministers cannot retail the particular stations assigned, for a longer 
period than two years, the connection of those gentlemen who have visited the society 
here, has not been considered sufficiently permanent to justiiy biographical notice. 



1835.] EPISCOPAL SOCIETY. 221 

During this period, the society has increased with rapidity. They 
have now about one hundred church members, and a numerous con- 
gregation. In September, 183G, a house for worship was erected 
on the street called Columbian Avenue. 

PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL SOCIETY. 

The establishment of an Episcopal Society in Worcester, had been 
frequently subject of consideration with those directing the domestic 
missionary organization of the church, in Massachusetts. No dis- 
tinct effort for its accomplishment was made, until the close of 1835. 
The first regular services according to the liturgy of the Protestant 
Episcopal church, were performed by Rev. Thomas H. Vail, on the 
13th of December of that year. Since that time, they have been 
continued in the South Hall of the Town House. At the commence- 
ment, only two families were known to be attached to the society. 
Twelve were connected with it, in September 183G : the communi- 
cants were about sixteen. The rite of baptism had been adminis- 
tered, once privately, twice publicly, and there had been one confir- 
mation. 

Wardens and vestry, officers corresponding to the deacons and 
trustees of congregational societies, have not yet been elected. A 
subscription of 8 0000 was raised in Worcester for the erection of a 
church, in March and April, 1836. The execution of the work 
was suspended, on account of disappointment in obtaining aid from 
abroad, but measures are in progress to procure the construction of 
an edifice for worship during 1837. 

The Rev. Mr. Vail was born in Richmond, Va. where he resided 
until 1822. Subsequently, his home was in Norwich, Conn, until 
his. removal to Worcester. He graduated at Washington College 
Hartford, Conn, in 1831 : was afterwards connected with the Gener- 
al Protestant Episcopal Theological Seminary in the city of New 
York, four years: was ordained deacon by Bishop Browned, in New 
Canaan, Conn, in July 1835 : and officiated a short time, in Phila- 
delphia and Boston, under temporary arrangements. 

UNION SOCIETY. 

In the Autumn of 1834, meetings were held, preparatory to the 
formation of a third orthodox society. In December, it was resolved 
to take measures to erect a building for worship, and subscriptions 
for that purpose were obtained. On the 11th of March, 1835, the 



•2-22 UNION SOCIETY. [1835. 

Proprietors of the Union Meeting House were incorporated. Pro- 
ceedings for the organization of a church, commenced, Dec. 25, 

1835. Members of the First and Calvinist Churches united in ad- 
opting the following confession of faith. 

' 1. We believe in one God, who possesses in an infinite degree, 
all natural and moral perfections : who is the creator, upholder, and 
governor of the universe, who is revealed to us as Father, Son, and 
Holy Ghost. 

' 2. We believe that the Scriptures of the Old and New Testa- 
ments, were written under the inspiration of God, and clothed with 
divine authority, and are a perfect rule of faith and practice. 

' 3. We believe that mankind are fallen from a state of rectitude, 
and are, while in a state of nature, wholly destitute of that holiness, 
which is required by the divine law. 

'4. We believe that all who are saved, will be saved by the sov- 
ereign mercy of God, through the atonement, which was effected by 
the obedience, sufferings, and death of Christ. 

' 5. We believe in the necessity of regeneration, through the Holy 
Spirit. 

1 6. We believe there are properly belonging to the Christian re- 
lio-ion two, and only two, sacraments, Baptism and the Lord's Sup- 
per. 

' 7. We believe that God has appointed a day, in the which he 
will judge the world in righteousness, when the dead shall arise from 
their graves, and, together with the living, shall stand before the 
judgment seat of Christ, and be adjudged, the righteous to everlast- 
ing life, and the wicked to shame and everlasting contempt.' 

An ecclesiastical council convened, agreeably to the letters missive 
of Alfred D. Foster and others, a committee of invitation, Feb. 3, 

1836, from the churches in Hubbardston, Leicester, Rutland, 
Shrewsbury, East Douglas, Holden, Paxton, Boylston, West Boyl- 
ston, Oxford, Eliot church in Roxbury, and the First and Calvin- 
ist churches in Worcester. 

Twenty seven individuals had been dismissed and recommended 
from the First church, and nineteen from the Calvinist Church. 
Sixty three persons in all, were constituted the Union Church. The 
public exercises were thus assigned : introductory prayer by Rev. 
John Boardman of East Douglas: sermon by Rev Josiah Clark of 
Rutland : constituting of the church by Rev. Samuel Gay of Hub- 



1836.] 



UNION SOCIETY. 



223 



bardston : consecrating prayer by Rev. John S. C. Abbott of Rox- 
bury : right hand of fellowship by Rev. John Nelson of Leicester : 
the Rev. Rodney A. Miller of Worcester, and Rev. George Allen 
of Shrewsbury, administered the Lord's Supper. 

The first meeting of the Union Society, in its parochial capacity, 
was convened, on the warrant of Emory Washburn, Esq. March 5, 
1836. 

The dedication of the meeting house took place July 6, 1836 : the 
invocation of the Divine Presence was by Rev. Jonathan Aldrich of 
the first Baptist church : lessons from the Scriptures were read by 
Rev. David Peabody, of the Calvinist church : the dedicatory pray- 
er was offered by Rev. George Allen of Shrewsbury : a sermon 
preached by Rev. John Nelson of Leicester; and the exercises con- 
cluded with prayer by Rev. John T. Burrill of the Methodist church. 

The Rev. Jonathan Edwards Woodbridge was invited to settle as 
pastor, August, 1836. 



The following list shows the succession of Deacons of the Churches. The dates pre- 
fixed indicate the time of election to office. 



FIRST CHURCH. 



1716. . . . 
171C. . . . 
1748. Jan. 14. 
1748. " " 
1751. Dec. 16. 
1751. " " 
1783. Nov. 5. 
1783. " " 

1786. May 17. 
1786. <• " 
1799. Sept. 7. 
1807. June 29. 

1812. Dec. 4, 
1822. March. 

1824. June 11. 

1836. Feb. 23. 
1836. " " 



1791. Nov. 15. 
1797. Oct. 19. 
1801. Nov. 23. 
1807. June 18. 
1812. April 16. 
1833. Jan. 30. 
1833. " " 



Daniel Heywood. 
Nathaniel Moore. 
Jonas Rice, jun. 
Thomas Wheeler. 
Jacob Chamberlain. 
Samuel Miller. 
Nathan Perry. 
Thomas Wheeler. 

SECOND CHURCH. 

Samuel Bridge. 1817. Oct. 3, 

David Bigelow. 1827. Oct. 29. 

Nathan Heard. 1817. " " 
William Trowbridge. 

BAPTIST CHURCH. 

James Wilson. 1822. March. 

Nathaniel Stowell. 1836. May. 

CALVINIST CHURCH. 

Samuel Taylor. 1830. Nov. 10. 

UNION CHURCH. 

Moses Perry. 1836. Feb. 23, 

Alfred D. Foster. 



John Chamberlain. 
Leonard Worcester. 
David Richards. 
Moses Perry. 
John Nelson. 
Lewis Chapin. 
Moses Brigham. 



Jeremiah Robinson. 
Benjamin Butman. 
Alpheus Merrificld. 



Daniel Goddard. 
Zebina E. Berry. 

John Coe. 

Ichabod Washburn. 



The numbers of communicants, September, 1836, as they are stated by the Clerks, 
are as follows : 

First church, about 350 Baptist church, 434 Methodist church, about 100 

Second church, about 150 Calvinist church, about 200 Union church, 63 



224 



BIOGRAPLICAL NOTICES. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

Professional Men. 1 Biographical notices of the Practitioners, Counsellors and Attor- 
neys at Law, and Physicians, before and since the Revolution. 

The professional gentlemen who have been or are resident in 
Worcester, have been arranged, in the following pages, as nearly as 
possible, in the order in which they commenced business here, with- 
out regard to age, standing, or other principle of priority. Those 
in practise in September, 1S36, are distinguished by italics. 

The capital letters following the names, are the initials of Har- 
vard and Brown Universities, Yale, Dartmouth, Williams, Union, 
Bowdoin, and Amherst Colleges. 

LAWYER S. 2 

Joshua Eaton was the first lawyer of Worcester, in point of time. 
He was born in that part of Watertown, now Waltham, Dec. 15, 
1714. The oidy son of honest and well respected parents, who be- 
stowed upon him a liberal education, with the sole view to prepara- 
tion for the ministry, after graduating at Harvard University, in 1735, 
he disappointed their hopes and wishes, by preference of the legal to 
the clerical profession. The novicate was short in early times. Hav- 
ing spent two years with Judge Trowbridge, in the study of the law, 
Mr. Eaton commenced the practise in Worcester, in 1737, not long 
after the establishment of the county. Simplicity and sincerity uni- 
ted in his character with ardor and zeal : at the foundation was a 

1 Notices of the clergymen of the town should properly be inserted in the division of 
biography. The connection of the lives of the pastors with the history of their parishes 
is so intimate, that it has been deemed most convenient to place the brief memoirs of 
the ministers with those of the societies of their settlement. 

2 In compiling the sketches of lawyers, much has been derived from the excellent 
address to the Bar of Worcester County, Oct. 2, 1829, by Joseph Willard, Esq. some- 
time of Lancaster, now of Boston. Higher authority could not be desired, than the 
antiquarian accuracy and fidelity of the author of that production. The reader will find 
occasion to regret, that the classic elegance of his composition could not be adopted, 
as easily as the materials gathered by his diligence have been appropriated. 



JOSHUA EATON. 225 

substratum of pious devotion pervading his whole life. He acquir- 
ed the reputation of a faithful and honest practitioner. Although his 
talents could not entitle him to eminence, he obtained extensive em- 
ployment. While his worldly prospects grew brighter, his attention 
was awakened to his spiritual condition, and prospects of higher use- 
fulness opened. The captivating and energetic eloquence of White- 
field diffused a contagious enthusiasm on religious subjects. The 
spirit was imbibed by Eaton, and cooperated with his own inclina- 
tions and the recollections of the earnest desires of his parents, to 
induce him to abandon the profession he had adopted, and to seek 
the service of the altar. After five years practise at the bar, he com- 
menced the study of theology. The fervor of his exercises was deem- 
ed fanatical, and he incurred the censure of the church in Worces- 
;er. Feeling aggrieved by their disciplinary measures, redress was 
sought by appeal to an ecclesiastical council. In a private diary is 
mtered, under date Oct. 23, 1743, * This day detained from the house 
ff God, and I think to forbear preaching any more, until after the 
:ouncil. I hope I even long again to go up to the house of God, 
ind to tread his courts.' Three days were dedicated by him to fast- 
ng, humiliation, and prayer, on account of the difficulties. The 
roubles of his spirit were at length removed, by his restoration to 
ihristian communion. It was noted, Nov. 25, ' The church was pleas- 
ed to restore me to christian privileges without any acknowledo-. 
nent, and gave as a reason for what they had done in censurino- me, 
hat they looked upon me, as being actuated by an overheated brain.' 
rhe next Sabbath he resumed his clerical occupation, and preached 
so acceptably in the South Precinct of Leicester, now the town of 
Spencer, that he was soon after invited to settle there, and ordain- 
id, Nov. 7, 1744. Zeal in the performance of duty overcame infi- 
nity of body, and habitual depression of mind. The enjoyments 
ind honors of his former situation never elicited regret for deser- 
;ion. He writes, Feb. 7, 1744, ' Attended court at Worcester upon 
jusiness : but, oh ! the tumult, and dissipation, and snares, that attend 
;he courts. I think, I would not return to the practise of the law 
>n any consideration.' A faithful ministry was finished by death, 
April, 1772. The fragments of his diary are replete with indications 
)f deep humility, ardent piety, and conscientious regard to duty, 
rhe successive decease of his children and consort, the sufferings of 
ong sickness, and the afflictions of his lot, exemplified his resigna- 
tion and patience. After his death, a volume of plain and judicious 
discourses, not remarkable either for brilliancy or force, were pub- 
29 



226 LAWYERS. 

lished by his friend, Rev. Eli Forbes of Brookfield, who pronounced 
his funeral discourse, and received the custody of his papers. 1 

Stephen Fessenden, a native of Cambridge, was graduated at 
Harvard University in 1737, studied with Judge Trowbridge, and 
probably succeeded Eaton in the practise of the law in Worcester. 
Specimens of instruments drafted by him, exhibit remarkable neat- 
ness and accuracy. A crowd of irregular practitioners, pressing into 
business, seem to have cut off his supplies, and finally driven him 
away. 2 

Joseph Dyer was a person of another description. Not bred 
to the profession, he came here in 1736, and commenced business as 
office and shopkeeper. Law and merchandise he treated as equal- 
ly matters of trade. With some ingenuity and acuteness, he fell, at 
length, victim to the litigious spirit he encouraged in others. Having 
worked himself into the belief of the validity of a peculiar view of 
the qualifications of voters, the opposition of others to his own con- 
struction, produced a degree of monomania. It was his pleasure to 
interpose exceptions to all municipal proceedings until he became 
the common nuisance of the inhabitants. For more than twenty 
years he protested either verbally or in writing, against acts specially 
or doings generally of the town. No taxes could be collected from him, 
unless by levy of warrants of distress on his chattels. Year after year, 
the people resolved to sustain their officers in the execution of coer- 
cive process for payment of his share of common charges. At length, 
it seems to have been determined to silence the voice of continual re- 
monstrance, and subdue resistance to legal assessments, by depriva- 
tion of liberty. In 1759, Dyer was committed to the common jail, for 
neglect to discharge a fine incurred by absence from a military mus- 
ter, nominally of £ 16 in the depreciated currency, really of small 
amount in specie. The remedy was ineffectual. He entered his 
cell protesting against the law, its process, and the prison. Protest- 
ing he would never come out by submission to the payment of a far- 
thing, he settled himself down in the house of the government as 
a home. His beard, permitted to grow unshorn, gave him the aspect 
of an ancient philosopher in retirement. The little emolument of 
professional business, and the income of the shop managed by his 
family, gave food for his subsistence. Two years went by, and the 
citizens, alarmed lest his obstinacy should bring upon them the sup- 

1 The biographical sketch prefixed to this volume, anUWillarcTs Address,have furnish- 
ed materials for this notice. 

J YVillard's Address. 51. 



JAMES PUTNAM. 227 

port of himself and his children, held a meeting to consider his situa- 
tion, and proposed to release the two thirds of the fine given by the 
statute to the corporation, if the residue was paid. The offer was re- 
jected. Three years longer, Dyer persisted in remaining under con- 
finement, probably sweetening the solitude by the compilation of a 
dictionary of the English language, afterwards published. A sub- 
scription was raised, against his will, by the charitable ; the sum ne- 
cessary for liberation was advanced, and he was told that he was free. 
The habit of resisting was so inveterate, that he objected to this be- 
nevolence, refused to remove from his rooms, and was, at length, 
only ejected by force. Dyer left the jail, as he entered it, protesting 
against the right to put him in or out. The first use of liberty, was 
to commence a suit against the keeper for false imprisonment : the 
failure of the action contributed to the recovery of mental sanity, 
impaired on a single point only. He afterwards removed to New- 
fane, Vt. 1 

In the same low class of pettifoggers, was Nathaniel Greene, a 
shopkeeper, who attended courts, made writs, drew wills and deeds, 
and did business in the humbler walks of the profession, from 1746, 
to 1760. 

James Putnam, H. U. 1746, attained and deserved the highest 
rank of professional distinction. He was born in that part of Salem, 
now Danvers, in 1725, studied with Judge Trowbridge, and com- 
menced the practise of the law in Worcester in 1749. Strong na- 
tive power was increased by extensive acquirement and unwearied 
cultivation. His ability and learning soon gave him a flood of 
clients, and enabled him not only to contest, but to hold, posses- 
sion of the best business, while Trowbridge, Hawley, Gridley, Pratt, 
and the other celebrated counsellors who attended the terms of our 
courts, were competitors. The highest encomium which can be be- 
stowed upon professional qualification, was pronounced, in after life, 
by an associate, who well knew his worth :' 2 'Judge Putnam was an 
unerring lawyer ; he was never astray in his law. He was, I am in- 
clined to think, the best lawyer of North America.' His argu- 
ments were marked by strong and clear reasoning, logical precis- 
ion and arrangement, and that sound judgment whose conclusions 
were presented so forcibly as to command assent. A well read law- 
yer, skilful pleader, safe adviser, and successful advocate, his exten- 

1 Ebenezer Dyer is mentioned in Thomson's Gazeteer of Vermont, as one of the first 
settiers ofiSewfane in 176G. He was probably son of Joseph. 
2 Cited in Willard's Address, Gl. 



228 LAWYERS. 

diner fame gave him wide sphere for action and usefulness. Retain- 
ed in Middlesex and Hampshire, he attended the courts of those 
counties constantly, and, in important cases, assisted in those of Suf- 
folk, where then, as now, the best talents of the state were gathered. 
At a time when military rank was given as the real distinction of 
merit, and had not become worse than an empty title, he was Col- 
onel of a regiment. When Jonathan Sewall was raised to the bench 
of the Court of Admiralty, James Putman was appointed his suc- 
cessor, as Attorney General of the province. When the revolution 
commenced, having given the whole weight of his high character 
and great influence, to sustain the royal government, he was com- 
pelled to take refuge in Boston. 

He accompanied the British army to New York; thence he wen! 
to Halifax, and embarked for England in 177G, where he remained 
until the peace of 1783. In 1784, he was appointed member of the 
Council of New Brunswick, and Judge of the Supreme Court of thai 
province. In the discharge of the duties of his judicial office, he 
obtained the highest praise which human ambition should desire 
that of inflexible justice. The sternness and austerity of officia 
demeanor, and the reserved habits of social life were relieved b} 
flashes of wit which are described as irresistible. He resided in the 
city of St. John, and retained the office of Judge till his death, Oct 
23, 17S9. 

Among those who received legal education from him, were Pres 
ident John Adams, Joshua Atherton of Lancaster, Rufus Chand 
ler, and Nathaniel Chandler of Worcester. 

Rufus Chandler, II. U. 17GG, son of the second judge Join 
Chandler, was born at Worcester, May, 18, 1747, and died in Lon 
don, Oct. 11, 1823. He studied with James Putnam, was admitte< 
to the bar in 1768, and practised in Worcester until the Courts wen 
closed, in June, 1774. Inheriting the loyalty of the family whicl 
shared so freely in the bounty of the king, he left the country on th 
commencement of hostilities, and resided in England as a privat< 
gentleman. 

He was more remarkable for accuracy and method, than for higl 
mental endowments. Fidelity in business, and purity of life, secur 
ed the confidence of his clients. He was economical in his habit 
from principle, and most punctiliously neat in personal appearance 

Levi Lincoln, born May 5, 1749, was third son of Enoch Lin 
coin, a strong minded and substantial farmer of Hingham, membe 
of the revolutionary committees, and frequently representative of tha 



LEVI LINCOLN. 220 

town. Unable to afford liberal education to all his children, and 
unwilling to bestow peculiar advantages on one, the son was bound 
apprentice to an ironsmith. 1 Indications of talent, and of strong in- 
clination for literary pursuits, were early exhibited. While he yet 
wrought at the anvil, he indulged the taste for reading in the hours 
allotted for sleep, and devoted a portion of the night to the study of 
the Latin and Greek languages. Sedate and thoughtful manner, and 
diligence and capacity in the acquisition of knowledge, interested 
others in his welfare. Assistance and encouragement were derived, 
from Mr. Lewis, long master of the Grammar School, and from the 
Rev. Dr. Gay, for whom his pupil cherished enthusiastic veneration. 
As the love of literature increased, he abandoned the forge, and after 
six months preparation, entered Harvard University, where he was 
graduated in 1772. Originally intending to adopt the clerical pro- 
fession, his purpose was changed by an accidental visit to the courts, 
when the eloquence of the elder Adams threw its power over the 
pending cause. He commenced the study of law with Daniel Farn- 
ham, Esq. in Newburyport, where he staid a year, and then complet- 
ed his noviciate in the office of Joseph Hawley of Northampton, dis- 
tinguished as jurist, statesman, and patriot. In April, 1775, he 
marched as volunteer with the minute men to Cambridge : as the 
emergency of danger which called for the service had passed, and 
the army settled down in their entrenchments for protracted siege, 
he returned ; was admitted to practise in regular course in Hamp- 
shire, and immediately established himself in Worcester. A wide 
and clear field for the exertion of talent was presented. The prin- 
cipal men of the county had espoused the cause of the royal gov- 
ernment, and been driven from their homes, or deserted their coun- 
try. Two lawyers only remained at the bar when the temples of 
justice were reopened, in 1775, after having been closed by the tu- 
mult of arms for a year. 2 Decision of character and energy of pur- 
pose, capacity to lead and popular address, soon gave him prominent 
station. Introduced into extensive business, he still devoted his tal- 
ents to the cause of independence, and immediately became an ac- 
tive member of the committees of the revolution. Animated appeals 
to patriotism in written addresses, and printed communications to 

' Jeremiah Lincoln of Hingham, who had been a soldier in the French wars, and esca- 
ped from the massacre of Fort William Henry. He died at Lunenburg, Mass. Anoth- 
er of his apprentices, Dr. Peter Hobart of Hanover, left his work shop for the Universi- 
ty. Solomon Lincoln's History of Hingham, 90. 127. 
2 The late Judge John Sprague of Lancaster and Joshua Upham of Brookfield. 



230 LAWYERS. 

the newspaper of the town, attest the ardor of his devotion and the 
powerful expression of his pen. When the courts commenced, after 
their suspension, in Dec. 1775, lie was appointed Clerk. In Jan. 
1777, on resigning, he was commissioned by the executive council, 
Judge of Probate, and held the office till 1781, when it was relin- 
quished, in consequence of interference with professional engage- 
ments. 

In 1779, he was specially designated to prosecute the claims of gov- 
ernment to the large estates of the refugees, confiscated under the Ab- 
sentee Act : and was Commissioner to expedite the payment of the 
Continental tax. He was delegate of the town to the convention in 
Cambridge for framing a state constitution. In Feb. 1781, he was 
elected by the Legislature, under the Confederation, representative in 
the Continental Congress, but the honor was declined. In 1783, he 
was called by the Supreme Court to the degree of Barrister at law, a 
judicial distinction only conferred on himself and Judge Sprague in 
the county, after the revolution. 1 In 179G, he was representative in 
the General Court: in 1797, member of the Senate of the Common- 
wealth ; and exerted strong influence in the legislative action, par- 
ticularly in the modification of the judicial and school systems. In 
the autumn of 1800, although his democratic principles were known 
to be opposed to those of a majority of the electors, he was returned 
representative to the seventh Congress, and was chosen to supply 
the vacancy occasioned by the resignation of Hon. Dvvight Foster 
at the then next session. He was selected, soon after taking his seat, 
by President Jefferson to form one of his cabinet. On the 5th March, 
1801, he was appointed Attorney General of the United States, and 
was provisional Secretary of the State, until the arrival of Mr. Madison 
at the Federal city, in May following. The duties of the former charge 
separating him from his family, it was resigned, after nearly four years 
service. ' I received last night,' writes Mr Jefferson, Dec. 28, 1804, 
' your letter, proposing to resign your office ; and I received it with 
real affliction. It would have been my greatest happiness, to have 

1 The following precept is an example of (he form in which (he honorary legal distinc- 
tion,now obsole(e, was conferred. 

To Levi Lincoln, of Worcester, Esquire, Greeting. We, well knowing your ability, 
learning, and integrity, command you, that you appear before our Justices of our Su- 
preme Judicial Court next to be holden at Boston, in and for our county of Suffolk, on 
the third Tuesday of February next, then and there, in our said Court, to take upon you 
the state and degree of Barrister at Law. Hereof fail not. Witness William Cushing ] 
Esq. our Chief Justice at Boston, this 25th day of December, A. D. 1783, and in the 
eighth year of our independence. By order of Court. Charles Gushing, Clerk. 



LEVI LINCOLN. 231 

kept together to the end of my term our executive family ; for our 
harmony and cordialty have really made us but as one family. Yet, 
I am a father, and have been a husband. I know the sacred duties 
which these relations impose; the feelings they inspire ; and that 
they are not to be resisted by a warm heart. I yield, therefore, to 
your wishes. You carry with you, my entire approbation of your 
official conduct, my thanks for your services, my regrets on losing 
them, and my affectionate friendship.' In the spring of 1806, he 
was elected member of the Council of Massachusetts. In 1807, and 
1808, he was Lieutenant Governor of the Commonwealth. On the 
decease of Gov. Sullivan, in Dec. ISO'S, he discharged the duties of 
Chief Magistrate for the remainder of the term of office. lie was 
nominated for election as Governor, in 1809, but, in the revolution 
of party, his competitor, Gov. Gore, prevailed. He afterwards de- 
clined being candidate, when the ascendancy of the political princi- 
ples to which he adhered, would have rendered success more sure. 
In 1810 and 1811, he was again councillor. In 1811, he was ap- 
pointed Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. 
' You will see,' writes President Madison, ' by the commission which 
will be forwarded from the Department of State, that I have taken 
the liberty of nominating you to the Senate as successor to Judge 
Gushing, notwithstanding your remonstrances against a recall in- 
to the national service. I was induced to this step, not only by my 
personal wishes, but by those of others, between whom and yourself 
exists all the reciprocal respect that can add weight to them, and par- 
ticularly by their persuading themselves, that your patriotism would 
acquiesce in an appointment, however contrary it might be to your pre- 
vious inclinations. I venture to flatter myself that in this we may not 
be disappointed : and that, in every event, you will regard the liberty 
I have taken in imposing the dilemma upon you, with the indulgence 
due to my motives, and to the great esteem and sincere friendship of 
which I pray you to accept my renewed assurances.' Weakness of 
sight, terminating in almost total blindness, rendered it necessary to 
decline even such solicitation, and to retire from public life. 1 Par- 
tial restoration of vision, enabled him to resume the cultivation of 
the farm and the classical studies, both objects of passionate attach- 
ment, and among the fields and with the pages of his favorite Latin 

1 Mr. Jefferson wriios: ' be assured your place is high among those whose remem- 
brance I have brought with me into retirement and cherish with warmth. I was over- 
joyed when I heard you were appointed to the supreme bench of national justice, and 
as much mortified when I heard you had declined.' 



232 LAWYERS, 

authors, to alleviate the infirmities of decaying health and pressing 
age. He died, April 14, 1820, aged 71. 

' For a period of nearly forty years,' says Mr. Willard, ' he was 
in active life, and bore leading part amid vast and important chan- 
cres in our community, such as none of the present generation can 
be called on to witness. He was, without question, at the head of 
the bar, from the close of the Revolution till he left our courts at the 
commencement of the present century. His professional business 
far exceeded that of any other member of the bar. He was retained 
in every case of importance, and for many years, constantly attend- 
ed the courts in Hampshire and Middlesex, [and frequently those of 
the neighboring states.] His great command of language, his pow- 
er in searching out the truth from unwilling witnesses, in analysing, 
arranging, and presenting to the mind the evidence of the case, ren- 
dered him a highly popular advocate, and gave him great success in 
jury trials. Wide reading and extensive practise constituted him a 
learned jurist.' The arbitrary encroachments of the royalist clergy- 
men, claiming the sovereign right of veto, were successfully resisted 
by him. His love of religious freedom, broke through the ecclesias- 
tical usurpations of early time, and contributed to establish the con- 
flicting interests of church, parish, and minister on sure distinctions. 
The fetters of negro bondage were broken in Massachusetts, by the 
decision, in a case, in which his whole energies were exerted, that 
the relation of master and slave could not justify assault. The ' Far- 
mer's Letters,' published in 1800, and 1801, were widely circulated, 
produced powerful sensation in the political world, and busied the 
press, for a long time, with efforts to answer their arguments, and 
personal attack on their author. 

He was one of the original members of the American Academy 
of Arts and Sciences, Trustee of Leicester Academy, first President 
of the Worcester Agricultural Society, and associate of many useful 
institutions. 

It is not for the partiality of filial reverence to attempt to deline- 
ate the private character of a venerated sire. All that is permitted 
by the plan of this work, is to indicate the public and professional 
standing of our citizens, where neither space nor ability afford hope 
of doing justice to their merits. 

William Stearns, H. U. 1770, was born in Lunenburg, Mass. 
He first commenced the study of divinity, and preached for a short 
time, but was not settled as a clergyman. He then devoted himself 
to the law, was admitted to practise, Dec. 1776, and established 



EDWARD BANGS. 2:3:3 

himself in Worcester. During one year he was connected with 
Daniel Bigelow, Esq. in the publication of the Massachusetts Spy. 
His professional business was considerable until his early death, in 
1784. He possessed good sense, respectable learning, lively wit, 
and much kindness of feeling. 

Edward Bangs was born in Harwich in the county of Barnstable, 
Sept. 5, 1756. He prepared for college at Durnmer Academy, in 
Newbury, under the instruction of the celebrated Master Moody, 
and entered Harvard University, in 1773. He remained in Cam- 
bridge during the spring vacation of 1775, when the British troops 
marched to Concord. On the 19th of April, as soon as intelligence 
of the hostile movement was received, he hastily equipped himself 
from the armory of the college company, repaired to the scene of 
action, and fought gallantly during the day. He saved the life of a 
British soldier, severely wounded, who had been overtaken in flight, 
and was about to be sacrificed to the vengeance of his captors. The 
events of the war dispersed the students, and interrupted, for a time, 
the course of instruction. Mr. Bangs continued his studies at home, 
until the halls were again opened. He graduated in 1777, in the 
same class with the late Rufus King, James Freeman, William Bent- 
ley, Thomas Dawes, and others, who became eminent as learned 
divines, or able civilians. He immediately entered the office of 
Chief Justice Parsons at Newburyport, and was admitted to the bar, 
in Essex, in 1780. The same year, he removed to Worcester, and 
commenced business in partnership with William Stearns. This con- 
nection continued about two years. After its dissolution, he pursu- 
ed the profession alone, and with good success. When the insurrec- 
tion broke out, he engaged with great ardor in defence of the con- 
stitution. His pen was exerted in the cause of order with ability. In 
January, 1787, he joined the army of Gen. Lincoln, as a volunteer. 
In that brief campaign, he suffered so much from exposure and hard- 
ship, that his health was impaired, and the foundation of disorders 
laid, from which he never recovered. In 1805, he formed a part- 
nership with William E. Green, who had just removed from Grafton 
to Worcester, which subsisted until 1811. He was appointed Attor- 
ney of the Commonwealth for the County of Worcester, on the resig- 
nation of Hon. Nathaniel Paine, by the Court, and soon after reap- 
pointed by the Govenor and Council, Oct. 21, 1807. He was re- 
moved to the bench, as Associate Justice of the Court of Common 
Pleas for the western circuit, Oct. 8, 1811, on the first organization 
of that court. This office he retained till his death, June 28, 1S18 
at the age of 62. 

30 



234 LAWYERS. 

He was representative of Worcester, in the General Court, from 
1802 to 1811 inclusive : for many years one of the board of select- 
men ; was on many important committees ; and sustained various 
town offices. Without seriously interrupting his professional avo- 
cations he took a prominent part in political transactions. In 1801, 
he was nominated for member of Congress from Worcester south dis- 
trict, but declined the honor. During the stormy period of party 
controversy, he was induced to become a candidate for the same sta- 
tion, but his competitor was elected. 

He practised successfully, as a lawyer, for thirty years. He was a 
good classical and general scholar, and possessed taste for mathe- 
matical science. Deep and conscientious regard to sincerity and 
truth was manifested in his whole transactions. However errone- 
ous he might have been considered, by those who differed from him, 
none doubted his honesty. He was of ardent temperament, and 
warm in attachment to friends, and the opinions or party he adopted. 
His love of nature was enthusiastic, and he contemplated her works 
with intense admiration. His leisure was devoted to the cultivation 
of a garden, ornamented with singular elegance, and filled, by his 
care, with rare exotics, beautiful native plants, and choice fruits. 

He possessed taste for poetry. Although he did not distinguish 
himself for that talent, some of his compositions were extensively 
circulated in the journals of the day. A humorous song, called ' the 
Somerset on shore,' attained considerable degree of popularity. 
His odes for public festive occasions were of respectable merit. 1 

William Sever, H. U. 1778, son of Hon. William Sever, was born 

1 Edward Bangs m. Hannah Lyndc, d. of Joseph Lynde, Esq., sometime of Charles- 
town, afterwards of Wofcesler, Sept. 18, 1780. He left two children. 1. Edward 
Dillingham. 2. Anna L. b. 1300: d. Feb. 11, 1823. 

The ancestor of the family was Edward Bangs, a native of Chichester in England, 
who arrived in Plymouth in July, 1623, by the Ann, the third ship which brought the 
pilgrim emigrants, having been preceded by the Mas flower and the Fortune. In the 
division of ihe live stock, to 12 companies, that to which Edward Bangs belonged re- 
ceived ' the great white backed cow, which was brought over with the first in the Ann ; 
also two she goats. ; In 1627, he was member of a commission with Gov. Bradford, to 
make a new division of lands. He was a shipwright, and is said to have superintended 
the construction of the first vessel built at Plymouth. He removed with Gov. Prince, 
and others to Eastham, in 164 I, where he died in 1678, a. 8G. 2. His son Jonathan, 
born at Plymouth, 1G40 ; rn. Mary Mayo, July 1G, 1664; d. at Harwich, now Brews- 
ter, 1728. 3. Edward, son of Jonathan, b. at Eastham, Sept. 30, 1665: d. May 22, 
1746. 4. Edward, son of Edward, b. 1694; d. June .'>, 17jj. 5. Benjamin, son of 
Edward, b. 1721 ; m. Desire Dillingham, d. 1769. He was father of Judge Edward 
Bangs. Farmer's Genealogical Register Willard's Address, 90. MS. of Edward 
D. Bangs, Esq. 



Law irat.s. ^<*5 

in Kingston, in Plymouth county. He studied with Levi Lincoln, 
sen. was called to the bar in 1781 : practised two years in Kings- 
ton : in 1785, removed to Worcester: where he died, October 31, 
L798, leaving the reputation of fine talents, which with greater as- 
siduity, might have given hi<rh professional distinction. 

Nathaniel Painr, II. U. 1775, son of Hon. Timothy Paine of 
Worcester, studied with Hon. John Sprague of Lancaster. Imme- 
diately upon admission, Aug. 1781, he commenced practise in Gro- 
ton, Mass. and after four years residence there, returned to Worces- 
ter. He succeeded Daniel Bigelow, Esq. as County Attorney. In 
1798, 1799 and 1890, he represented the town in the Legislature. 
He was appointed Judge of Probate, Jan. 24, 1801, and held that 
office thirty five years. His resignation was accepted Jan. 18, 183G. 

Timothy Green, B. U. 1780, a native of Worcester, was son of 
the first Dr. John Green, and grandson of Hon. Timothy Ruggles. 
He studied with Levi Lincoln, sen. and practised two years in Wor- 
cester. He then removed to the city of New York, where he enga- 
ged successfully in land trade. After a visit to the South, his pre- 
parations had been completed for an overland journey home, when 
he was prevailed on to take passage by sea. He embarked, in 1812, 
on board a privateer built vessel at Charleston, in company with 
Mrs. Alston, the accomplished lady of the governor of South Caroli- 
na, and daughter of the celebrated Aaron Burr. The ship sailed, 
and no tidings of her fate were ever afterwards heard. 

Joseph Allen, H. U. 1792, eldest son of Hon. Joseph Allen, born 
in Leicester, commenced practise in Worcester, removed to Wes- 
tern, Mass. now Warren, where he remained to 1805. He after- 
wards went to Charlestown, N. H. and died in that town. 

Samuel A. Flagg, H. U. 1794, was born in Mendon, Mass: 
studied with Hon. Nathaniel Paine : established himself in Worces- 
ter, 1797, and died here, March 5, 1825, aged 50. 

Andrew Morton, B. U. 1795, of Freetown, Mass. studied with 
Levi Lincoln, sen : practised in Worcester from 1S02 to 1804 : 
then settled in Hampden, Maine, where he died, Oct. 2G, 1805. 

Francis Blake, H. U. 1789, fifth son of Joseph Blake, was born 
October 14, 1774. His father, a native and eminent merchant of 
Boston, for several years anterior and subsequent to the commence- 
ment of the revolution, was engaged in extensive trade in Rutland, 
Mass. and removed to Hingham, in 1779. His son, was in the prin- 
cipal school of the town, then under the tuition of Rev. Joseph 
Thaxter, afterwards clergyman of Martha's Vineyard, and distin- 



236 LAWYERS, 

tmished for the eloquence of his address in prayer on the semi-cen- 
tennial anniversary of the battle of Bunker Hill. Under the instruc- 
tion of this gentleman, of his successor, Mr. Howard, and of Dr. 
Barker, he was fitted for college. Although prepared for admission 
to the freshman class at the age of eleven, he did not enter the Uni- 
versity until 17S7. After having graduated, he read law with the 
Hon. John Sprague, and was twenty years of age when called to the 
bar in 1794. He commenced practise in his native town of Rut- 
land, and his fine genius soon raised him to high professional stand- 
ing. In 1802, he removed to Worcester. In 1810, 1811, he was 
in the Senate of Massachusetts. In 1816, he was appointed Clerk 
of the courts, and held that office until his death, Feb. 23, 1817. 

The highest efforts of the great advocate rear no enduring monu- 
ment to his name. The reputation of his eloquence is entrusted to 
the generation that witnesses its display. Few memorials of the 
splendid talents of Mr. Blake survive, except in the admiration of 
his cotemporaries. An Oration at Worcester, July 4, 1796; an 
examination of the constitutionality of the embargo laws ; and an 
oration at Worcester, July 4, 1812, are the only publications which 
preserve permanent testimonials of magnificent intellectual action. 

His character is thus delineated by the elegant writer so often quo- 
ted. ' Mr. Blake possessed all the constituent properties of a great or- 
ator. He was of an ardent temperament, the usual companion of 
fine intellect, and of a character that dwelt with satisfaction and de- 
light upon whatever was lofty and honorable. His was the nicely mod- 
ulated voice, all whose cadences were musical ; and though like the 
harp of Memnon, in unrestrained inspiration, they sometimes breath- 
ed wildly, they breathed eloquently. His was the classic elegance 
of language, poured out in rich profusion from a never failing source. 
His was the vivid imagination, that threw over all, the crimson flush 
of light, and dazzled by its brilliancy. He brought to his aid the 
advantages of wide reading, and commendable scholarship, that ser- 
ved to increase his power of expression. He was often vehement and 
impassioned, and that, probably, was the prevailing tone of his elo- 
quence, especially when he detected and brought to light the hidden 
things of chicanery and deceit ; but his vehemence and his warmth 
never caused him to forget himself, nor to lose that harmony and 
measure of expression that were peculiarly his own.' l 

Levi Thaxter, of Hingham, son of Jonathan Thaxter, studied 
with Levi Lincoln, sen. commenced practice in Worcester in 1803. 

i Willard's Address, 98. 



LEVI LINCOLN. 237 

He was the first cashier of the Worcester Bank, which office he re- 
signed in 1805, and removed to Watertown, where he now resides. 
He was Senator of Massachusetts from 1822 to 1826. 

Levi Lincoln, H. U. 1802, son of Levi Lincoln, sen. of Wor- 
cester, read law in the office of his father, then Attorney General of 
the United States, and necessarily absent in the discharge of official 
duty. He was admitted to the bar in 1805, and commenced prac- 
tice here. In 1812, he was member of the Senate of Massachusetts, 
and drew, and with Hon. Benjamin Crovvninshield, presented, the 
answer of that body to the speech of Gov. Strong. In 1814, he was 
elected to the House of Representatives, and prepared and offered 
the protest of the minority against the act authorizing the famous 
Hartford Convention. In succeeding years, from 1814 to 1S22, he 
represented the town, with the exception of three intervals, when he 
declined being candidate. In 1820, he was in the convention to 
revise the state constitution, and afterwards one of the Commission- 
ers, under the act for the separation of Maine, to make partition 
and apportionment of the public property. In 1822, he was chosen 
Speaker of the House of Representatives, when a majority of that 
assembly differed from his political sentiments. He was Lieutenant 
Governor, in 1823, and, in February, 1824, appointed Associate 
Justice of the Supreme Judicial Court. In April, 1825, upon the 
nomination of the two great parties, he was Governor of the Common- 
wealth, and continued in this office by nine successive reelections, 
until, having declined being candidate, he retired upon the induction 
of his successor, in January, 1835. In February of that year, he 
was elected to supply the vacancy in the representation of the dis- 
trict, occasioned by the transfer of Hon. John Davis to the Execu- 
tive Chair, and, in November following, was chosen member of the 
twenty fourth Congress. 

The degree of LL. D. was conferred upon him by Williams Col- 
lege and by Harvard University. He was for several years mem- 
ber of the Board of Trustees of Leicester Academy, some time its 
Treasurer, and afterwards President : President of the Worcester 
Agricultural Society from 1823, Fellow of the American Academy 
of Arts and Sciences, member of the Board of Overseers of Har- 
vard College, and Councillor of the American Antiquarian Society. 

William E. Green, B. U. 1798, son of the first Dr. John Green, 
studied with Judge Edward Bangs, was admitted in 1801, and practic- 
ed in Grafton to 1805. He then returned to Worcester, and was in 
partnership with Mr. Bangs until the appointment of that gentleman 



238 LAWYERS. 

to the bench in 1811, and afterwards, until 1817, connected with 
Edward D. Bangs, Esq. 

Joseph B. Caldwell, H. U. 1802: son of William Caldwell, 
Esq. sheriff of Worcester County from 1793 to 1805, was born in 
Rutland ; studied with Hon. Nathaniel Paine ; practiced in Grafton 
to 1809; Worcester in 1810; Rutland to 1812. He returned to 
Worcester in 1813, and died here in that year. 

Samuel M. Burnside, D. C. 1805, son of Thomas Burnside, was 
born at Northumberland, Coos co. N. H. His early education was 
in the common schools of a new planted country, except nine months 
at an academy preparatory to admission at college. After having 
graduated, he passed two years in superintending a female academy 
at Andover, Mass. In October, 1807, he commenced the study of 
law in the office of Hon. Artemas Ward, the present Chief Justice 
of the Court of Common Pleas. No one was more able or willing 
to afford aid to his students. Familiar acquaintance with the prin- 
ciples of the common, merchant, and statute law, unsurpassed skill 
as conveyancer and special pleader, witli uniform kindness and 
liberality, justified their affectionate reverence for the character of 
that able jurist and excellent man. His business was immense. 
He was, consequently, much from home at this period, and his 
pupils were left to follow principally the dictates of their own judg- 
ment in regard to their course of reading. Mr. Burnside was admit- 
ted to practise in March, 1810, and was first sworn at the bar of the 
Supreme Judicial Court upon examination, being one of the few 
persons who have been suffered to pass to that court without having 
previously been admitted at the lower tribunal. He commenced 
business in Westborough in the spring of 1810. In the autumn of 
that year, he removed to Worcester, and has since resided here. 1 

1 His father, Thomas Burnside, was a descendant of that colony of Scots, settling in 
the north of Ireland about 1G50, many of whom emigrated to New England in 1719. 
Among them, was Rev. James McGregoire,his maternal grandfather, ordained first min- 
ister of Londonderry, 1711', who died March 5, 1729, leaving three sons 5 1. David, 
succeeding in the ministr}- in 1737; 2. James, who became merchant in Londonderry; 
and 3. Alexander, who settled in Warwick, R. I. Susannah, only daughter of Alexan- 
der, on the death of her father, was adopted and educated by her uncle James, himself 
childless ; inherited with her brother his considerable estate j and married Thoma s 
Burnside. 

Thomas Burnside was brought up in Londonderry as a merchant; took active part 
in the French wars from 1755 to 1763; was in many bloody battles on the frontier; and 
fought by the side of Wolfe on the plains of Abraham. On the restoration of peace, he 
was engaged several years in mercantile pursuits. He yielded to the flattering over- 
tures of Gov. Wentworth, to establish settlements in the northern parts of New Hamp- 
shire, within the valley of the Connecticut, whose fertile intervals had been traversed in 



NEWTON. ELIOT. HEYWOOD. 239 

Rejoice Ncicton, D. C. 1807, a native of Greenfield, Mass. son of 
aac Newton, commenced his studies with Hon. Richard E. New- 
>mb at Greenfield, which were concluded with Hon. Elijah Mills, 

Northampton. He was admitted attorney in Hampshire county, 

1810: immediately formed connection in professional business 
ith Hon. Francis Blake of Worcester, which continued until April, 
314. On the decease of William C. White, he was appointed Coun- 

Attorney, having discharged the duties a year previous. This of- 
ce he resigned in 18:24. He represented the town in the General 
ourt in 1829, 1830 and 1831, and was elected Senator of Massac- 
husetts in 1834. Since 1S2G, he has been connected in business 
ith William Lincoln. 

James Eliot. He was Representative in Congress from Ver- 
lont from 1803 to 1809. He was invited to Worcester to assume 
le editorial management of the Spy, in October, 1810, which he 
jlinquished in February following, and soon after removed. He 
as since been Clerk of the Courts of Windham County, Vt. and 
asides at Newfane. 

Levi Heywood, D. C. 1808, son of Seth Heywood, was born in 
fardner, Mass. June, 1784. The study of law, commenced with 
Ion. Nathaniel Paine of Worcester, was finished with Hon. Elijah 
lills of Northampton. Admitted to the bar in 1811, he began prac- 
ise here in that year. In October, 1818, he removed to Pinckney- 
ille, Louisiana, where he engaged in teaching school. Having kept 
.n office in New York for a short period, he became Principal of the 
Vcademy in Hackensack, N. J. He again resumed practise in the 
;ity of New York, where he died, Nov. 22, 1S32. 

lis military campaigns. Animated by a bold spirit of enterprise, he left lucrative busi- 
less and devoted friends, removed sixty miles above Haverhill, then the most northern 
ettlement, into the wilderness, inhabited only by the red man its ancient proprietor, and 
>ecame the first planter of Northumberland, then called Stoninglon. For two or three 
fears, he had no neighbor within sixty miles, and no direction to an English village but 
he line of spotted trees. In 1775, while busied in the labors of harvest, a friendly Indian 
;ame running into the field in urgent haste, to warn him to flee for life, assuring him 
;hat a body of hostile savages were within two or three hours march. Immediately, he 
and his family were on horseback, hastening to a place of safety. The mother, then 
unaccustomed to hardship, rode with her infant in her arms, swam her horse across the 
Connecticut in the flight, and after extreme difficulties reached Haverhill in safety. 
Within the short time mentioned by his savage friend, the house, buildings, and crops 
of Mr. Bumside were destroyed by the enemy. Undiscouraged by such perilous escape, 
with the courage of a soldier, he soon returned to his desolated farm, and until the close 
of the war, divided his time between the peaceful avocations of the husbandman, and 
the martial enterprises required for the defence of the country. He died Nov, 3, 1798. 
MS. of S, M. Bumside, Esq. 



"240 LAWYERS. 

William Chaules White, player, poet, advocate, and author, pos- 
sessed versatility of talents, which gave some distinction in each of 
his various occupations. His father, William White of Boston, ex- 
tensively engaged in commerce and trade, destined his eldest son to 
mercantile pursuits. His education for business was commenced, 
as the clerk of Mr. Joseph Cooledge, and diligently followed for a 
few years. At length, avocations more congenial to the taste of the 
young man, seduced his attention from the employments of the coun- 
ting house, and the journal and ledger gave place to books of light- 
er literature. In 1796, at the age of nineteen, he had written ' Or- 
lando', a tragedy, subsequently printed with the head of the author. 
The father, a formal and correct person, devoted to practical mat- 
ters, seems to have contemplated the intellectual acquisitions of his 
son with little satisfaction. ! Of the theatre, he entertained pro- 
found horror, regarding its pretensions to be the school of virtue as 
the mask of profligacy, and its occupations as the lowest degradation. 
His mortification was extreme, on finding the attachment of young 
White for the drama, growing into a passion, too strong to be con- 
trolled by reason, and when excited by opposition, becoming so in- 
tense as to affect the sanity of mind and health of body. In the 
winter of 1796, the elder White found it necessary to make a long 
visit in the city of New York. He writes to a friend at home, ' Wil- 
liam had, for some time, discovered his propensity for theatric exhi- 
bitions, and by all opportunities, I discountenanced in him this in- 
ordinate passion. During my absence from Boston last summer, 
he wrote a play, which, on my return, some of the family mentioned 
to me. Although I was not pleased with his study and writings in 
this style, yet I supposed it a good opportunity to turn his attention, 
and destroy gradually his predilection for the stage. About a month 
previous to my leaving Boston, he grew sick, and was, apparently, in 
a decline. I was very anxious, and postponed my journey for some 
time. A few days before I left home, he seemed to be in better spir- 
its, and declared himself to feel essentially better than he had been, 
and when I came away, opened himself, in a very dutiful and respect- 
ful manner, by observing, that his illness arose from his insatiable 
thirst for the stage, but that his resolution had gained the ascendan- 
cy of his desires, and entreated me not to have the least uneasiness 
respecting him in that particular, for he had determined not to give 
way to that inclination.' However sincere was the promise, it was 

1 ' A son his father's spirit doomed to cross, 
By penning stanzas while he should engross. ' 



WILLIAM C. WHITE. 241 

soon broken. The conflict of filial duty with passionate desire was 
so violent, as to bring its victim to the verge of distraction. Unable 
to resist his dramatic love, he made his first appearance at the Fed- 
eral Street Theatre, Dec. 14, 1796, in the character of Norval, in 
the tragedy of Douglas, and was received with great applause, by an 
audience of indulgent friends. In a letter of apology, written the 
next day, to his father, he says, ' I am sorry I was compelled by vi- 
olence of inclination, to deviate from my promises to you ; but life was 
one series of vexation, disappointment and wretchedness. Pray let 
this consideration have some weight with you. But, for Heaven's 
sake, for your own sake, and for my sake, do not tear me from a pro- 
fession, which, if I am deprived of, will be attended with fatal con- 
sequences.' Never did parent mourn more inconsolably for the worst 
follies or darkest crimes of his offspring, than did the father of the ac- 
tor, over this example of perversity in his family. His epistles are 
filled with expressions of distress, so extravagant, that they are only 
redeemed from being ludicrous, by the deep sorrow they breathe. He 
thus addresses the tragedian : ' Dear William ! for so I will still call 
you : my beloved son ! stain not the memory of your amiable and ten- 
der mother by your folly : break not the heart of your father : bring 
not down his gray hairs with sorrow to the grave : but rouse your- 
self, from this seeming state of insanity. . . . Your youth will ex- 
cuse you for once But, for God's sake, and every thing you 

hold dear, I pray you to refrain , and be not again seen on a common 
stage.' The temporary success of the aspirant for theatric fame, al- 
leviated the sufferings of the distressed parent, and he reluctantly 
yielded to the advice of friends, and consented that Charles might 
occasionally tread the boards, but only in the elevated walks of tra- 
gedy. ' Let me enjoin it upon you,' he writes, ' never to appear, no, 
not for once, in any comic act, where the mimic tricks of a monkey 
are better fitted to excite laughter, and where dancing, singing and 
kissing, may be thought amusement enough for a dollar. No, Will- 
iam, I had, much as I love you, rather follow you to the grave, than 
to see you, and myself, and my family, so disgraced.' 

Mr. White appeared as Orlando, in his own tragedy, Dec. 20 ; 
Tancred, in Thompson's Tancred and Sigismunda, Jan. 2, 1797. 
Romeo, in Romeo and Juliet, Feb. 6 : and Octavian, in the Moun- 
taineers, April 7, on the Boston stage. The ebb of popular favor ef. 
fected, what parental admonition and entreaty failed to accomplish. 
Controversy with the manager arose ; the applause which followed 
his first efforts grew fainter : the fit of romantic enthusiasm exhausted 

31 



242 LAWYERS. 

itself: and the earliest exertion of reflection, resulted in the determi- 
nation to adopt the profession of the law. In July, 1797, he enter- 
ed the office of Levi Lincoln, sen. in Worcester, as a student. In 
July, 1SO0, he removed to Providence, where he completed his pro- 
fessional noviciate, under the instruction of Judge Howell. When 
admitted to practise, in Rhode Island, in September following, a 
partnership wis proposed by that gentleman, on terms which were 
declined. Mr White opened an office in Providence, but did not 
obtain employment or fees. 

The want of business led directly to the want of money. The 
pressure of pecuniary embarrassment drove him again to the stage, 
in New York. ' On the 19th of January, 1801,' says Dunlap, 1 'Mr. 
White, a young man from Worcester, Massachusetts, was brought 
out with some promise of success, in Young Norval. Curiosity was 
excited, and a house of 8 014 obtained. He had performed in Bos- 
ton, when quite a boy, with that applause so freely, and often so in- 
judiciously bestowed on such efforts : had since studied law, and 
was at this time a tall, handsome youth ; but not destined by nature 
to shine He attempted Romeo, and gave hopes of improve- 
ment, but much improvement was wanting to constitute him an ar- 
tist.' He played Alonzo in Columbus; Aimwell in the Beaux Strat- 
agem : Theodore in the Court of Narbonne ; Elvirus in the Chris- 
tian Suitor : and Altamont in the Fair Penitent. In the play of ' the 
Abbe de l'Epee,' he failed altogether in the part of St. Alme, was 
hissed, and withdrawn by his own consent, as it was announced to 
the public, on ' finding the character too difficult.' About this time, 
was begun and nearly completed, a drama, with the title, ' the Con- 
flict of Love and Patriotism, or the Afflicted Queen,' still preserved 
in manuscript, and never finished. A visit to Richmond, Va. where 
he played a kw nights, was crowned with such success, that he con- 
templated devoting life to the theatre. The reverse of fortune in 
some of his efforts, again cured the dramatic mania. In the summer 
of 1801, he returned to the bar, and established himself in Rutland, 
in Worcester county, where some of his relatives then resided, and 
where his father, who had been unfortunate in business, soon after re- 
moved. He was married toTamar Smith, daughter of a respectable 
farmer of that town. The degree of eminence and emolument he 
attained as counsellor, did not content his ambition, and he sought 
wider field. In May 1809, he had contracted to compile ' a Com- 

1 Historv of the American Theatre. 281. 28G. 



WILLIAM C. WHITE. '243 

pendium of the Laws of Massachusetts,' printed in the same and the 
next following- year; a work useful at the day of its publication, but 
soon rendered useless by revisions of the statutes. More industry 
than talent was required for the compilation. 1 To superintend the 
execution of this work, Mr. White removed to Boston in 1810, and 
formed a professional connection with David Everett, Esq. of brief 
continuance. On the resignation of Judge Bangs, in 1811, he was 
appointed County Attorney which office he retained till his death. 
He established himself in Grafton, in 1812: the next year, he resid- 
ed in Worcester. In 1814, he removed to Sutton, where he married 
Susan Johannot, daughter of Dr. Stephen Monroe, August 13, IS 1 5. 
He returned to Worcester, in 1816, and died May 2, 1S18. He 
had been long in declining health. An organic disease, the dropsy, 
during the last years of his life, spread ' mortal paleness ' over his 
countenance. 

Through his whole career, the suppressed love of the drama was 
working on his mind. The Clergyman's Daughter, a play founded 
on McKensie's Man of the World, was first presented on the Bos- 
ton stage, Jan. 1, 1810, and obtained remarkable success. In De- 
cember of that year, he produced the Poor Lodger, a comedy, adopt- 
ing the incidents of Miss Burney's novel of Evelina. Mr. White 
was a frequent correspondent of the National ^Egis, while that pa- 
per was under the direction of the late Francis Blake, and afterwards 
became editor. In 1813, he published a pamphlet in vindication 
against the charge of apostasy from democratic principles. His 
odes and poetical productions obtained some celebrity. 2 

He possessed that high grade of talent, which is called genius. In 
his addresses at the bar there were passages of splendid eloquence : 
but they were unequal : although parts were strong, they were not 
connected with logical method and clearness. His taste was refined 
and correct. Greater constancy and perseverance might have raised 

1 The severe but witty comment of a distinguished jurist on this work was. that it re- 
sembled the tessellated pavement in Burke's description, 'here a little black-stone; 
there a little ivhite.' 

2 MS. of Samuel Jennison, Esq. White MSS. in Am. Antiq. Society's Collections. 
The publications of William Charles White are these : 1. Orlando, or Parental 

Persecution : tragedy : Boston, 1797, 12mo : 2. The Clergyman's Daughter: tragedy : 
Boston, 1810, 12mo: 3. The Poor Lodger : comedy: Boston, 1811, 12mo: 4. Compen- 
dium and Digest of the Laws of Massachusetts: Boston, 1809-10, 2 vols. 8vo: 5. 
Avowals of a Republican: Worcester, 1813, Svo: 6. Oration: Rutland: July 4, 
1802: 7. Oration: Worcester, July 4,1804. 8. Oration before the Bunker Hill As- 
sociation : Boston, July 4, 1809 : 9. Oration : Hubbardston, July 4, 1810. 



244 LAWYERS, 

him to high rank in any of the departments of forensic exertion, lit- 
erary effort, or dramatic exhibition. 

Samuel Brazer, son of Samuel Brazer, was born at Worcester, 
in 1785. His early education was received in the common schools. 
He was placed in a store in Boston, preparatory to engaging in 
mercantile business. Discovering no aptitude for the employment, 
and a decided inclination for literation avocations, he was sent to 
Leicester Academy to be prepared for college. There he remained 
long enough to be fitted for the junior class of Harvard University ; 
but owing to some difficulty with the instructor, who often felt the 
lash of his playful satire, he failed of being presented for admission. 
Although overfond of amusement, apparently idle in habits of study, 
and foremost in schemes of frolic, he easily took and maintained 
the highest place of his class in the academy. Disappointed in 
going to college, he entered the office of Hon. Francis Blake. The 
tone of party politics, was, at that time, high and angry. With 
characteristic impetuosity he rushed into the midst of the conflict, 
and became one of the most distinguished contributors to the Na- 
tional ^Egis, established in support of Mr. Jefferson's administra- 
tion. The literary department of that print derived aid, in verse 
and prose, from his pen, in many essays and poetical papers distin- 
o-uished for facility, point, and caustic vein of humor. He was fre- 
quently called on to deliver political orations on public anniversa- 
ries and acquitted himself with great reputation. The first effort 
of this kind, was an Address in commemoration of the purchase of 
Louisiana, in 1804, at the age of eighteen, which was extremely 
popular with his party friends. He entered into the practise of the 
profession in New Salem, Mass. But he did not love the law, and 
the enjoyments of festivity seduced him from the pursuit of that 
distinction his talents would have won. In 1812, he was resident 
in Worcester. Subsequently he removed to Baltimore, Md. where 
he conducted the newspaper called the Baltimore Patriot. Its edi- 
torial articles, during his connection, indicate his industry and con- 
sistency, and are marked by the vigor of his nervous style. He 
died in that city, Feb. 24, 1823. 

Enoch Lincoln, [B. C. 1821, A. M.] son of Levi Lincoln, sen. 
was born at Worcester, Dec. 28, 1788. He entered the Sophomore 
class of Harvard College in 1800. One of those unhappy commo- 
tions, which have disturbed the repose of the ancient seat of learn- 
ing in Cambridge, occurred in 1808, and he voluntarily withdrew 



ENOCH LINCOLN. 245 

from the University during his senior year. His professional stud- 
ies were pursued in the office of his brother, Levi Lincoln. He was 
admitted attorney in 1811, and commenced business in Salem, Mass. 
In 1812, he returned to Worcester, and practised here until the 
spring of 1813, when he settled in Fryeburg, Maine. While resident 
there, he published 'The Village,' a poem descriptive of the beauti- 
ful scenery of the fairest town on the stream of the Saco, of the wild 
and romantic region around, and of the social condition of the pop- 
ulation of the youthful state. In 1815, he was appointed deputy by 
Hon. William P. Preble, then District Attorney ofthe United States. 
In 1819, he was elected to Congress, and removed to Paris, the cap- 
ital of the county. He continued to represent the district of Oxford, 
in the national legislature until 1826. He was elected Governor of 
Maine for three years succeeding that date, with the approbation of 
the two political parties, and with uninamity almost unprecedented in 
times of feverish excitement. In the spring of 1829, he declined 
being again candidate, intending, in retirement, amid the pursuits 
of agriculture dear to him from education, in the cultivation of the 
natural sciences, with the flowers and fields he loved, and the litera- 
ry avocations he delighted to follow, to seek means of usefulness and 
happiness. In the autumn, induced by ardent desire to promote the 
cause of education, he visited Augusta, to address the Female Acad- 
emy, founded there by a philanthropic citizen. Suffering from se- 
vere sickness, the performance of the task exhausted his strength* 
and he became a martyr to the effort. He retired from the exer- 
cises to the house of a friend, where he died, three days after, Oct. 
11, 1829, at the age of forty years. 

His proclamations were marked with purity and expansive liberali- 
ty of sentiment, and terse felicity of expression. Official correspon- 
dence, vindicating, with decision and dignity, the rights of the state, 
was published among the documents of the contested north eastern 
boundary. His contributions to the press were characterized by sin- 
gular elegance of style, masculine energy of thought, and compre- 
hensive views. An extended work, illustrative of the history and 
resources of Maine, was left unfinished, in manuscript. 

In his moral constitution there were elements brighter than gifts 
of genius. Overflowing kindness of disposition, ready to do good 
to every human being, was associated with rectitude of judgment, 
and united to qualities giving to benevolence its highest value. The 
stedfast sense of justice was never debased by personal interest or 
feeling, or darkened by sectarian or party prejudice. Manly intre- 



246 LAWYERS. 

pidity, fearing nothing but the consciousness of doing wrong, was 
unshaken by the dread of undeserved censure or popular excitement. 

Edward D. Bangs, [H. U. 1827, A. M.] son of Hon. Edward 
Bangs of Worcester, studied with his father, and, on being admit- 
ted to practise in 1813, entered into partnership with William E. 
Green, which continued four years. In 181G, 1817, 1820, and 1824, 
he was representative of the town. In 1824, he was appointed suc- 
cessor to Rejoice Newton, as County Attorney, and soon after, was 
elected Secretary of the Commonwealth. The duties of this office 
were discharged for twelve years with fidelity and ability which com- 
manded the respect, and courtesy and urbanity securing the good 
will of all. Mr. Bangs declined reelection, in January, 1836, on ac- 
count of the impaired state of his health. 1 

John Davis, Y. C. 1812, son of Isaac Davis, of Northborough, 
Mass. (a respectable farmer, and for more than forty years deacon of 
the church of that town,) studied with Hon. Francis Blake, came 
to the bar in Dec. 1815, and established himself in Spencer, in the 
county of Worcester, a place then of small business, and affording 
narrow sphere for the exertion of talent. In May 1816, he remo- 
ved to Worcester, and soon attained high professional eminence. 
From 1824 to the time of the appointment of Levi Lincoln to the 
bench of the Supreme Court in 1825, he was partner of that gentle- 
man ; afterwards connected with Charles Allen, Esq. from 1825, to 
1831 ; and subsequently with Emory Washburn, Esq. to 1834. 

In the autumn of 1824, he was chosen Representative of the south 
district of Worcester county in the Congress of the United States, 
and held his seat by successive reelections until January 1834. He 
was distinguished as the advocate of the ' American System' of pro- 
tection to home industry : his speeches on the bill to increase the du- 
ties on wool and woolens of 1827 ; on the Tariff bill of 1828 ; upon 
the bill for the more effectual collection of imposts of 1830 ; and in 
answer to Mr. McDufne of South Carolina in 1832 ; were widely cir- 
culated in newspapers and pamphlets. In 1830, he was appointed 
by the Executive, special Agent, to attend at Washington, the ad- 
justment of the claim of Massachusetts for services, rendered by her 
troops during the war with England. He was elected Governor of 
the Commonwealth, for the year beginning January 1, 1834, and re- 

1 The unwearied kindness of Mr. Bangs, in full and frequent communications, and in 
permitting free access to the rolls and files among the precious treasures of the past, 
heretofore in his official custody, lias essentially aided in the preparation of this work, 
and deserves the most grateful acknowledgment. 



LAWYERS. 247 

elected for the succeeding political term. In 1835 he was chosen 
by the Legislature, Senator of the United States for the period ex- 
piring in 1841. He received the degree of LL. D. from Harvard 
University, in 1834. He was elected President of the Worcester 
County Historical Society in 1826, and Vice President of the Amer- 
ican Antiquarian Society in 1832. 

John W. Hubbard, D. C. 1814, son of Roswell Hubbard, was 
born at Brook field, Vt. and adopted and educated by Rev. Samuel 
Austin, his relative by marriage. His professional studies were pur- 
sued partly with Gov. Van Ness, at Burlington Vt. and partly with 
Samuel M. Burnside, Esq. From his admission to the bar in 1817, 
until his death, September 17, 1825, he practised here. He possess- 
ed a strong and well cultivated mind, and had given evidence of tal- 
ents and acquirements, which, with health and longer life, would 
have ensured distinction. 

Pliny Merrick, H. U. 1814, son of Hon. Pliny Merrick, of Brook- 
field ; studied with Levi Lincoln ; opened an office in Worcester, 
after admission to the bar in 1817; practised here to May 1818; in 
Charlton, Mass. for three months following ; in Swansey, Bristol 
county, to Aug. 1820; and in Taunton, where he was partner of 
Hon. Marcus Morton, during one year, to 1824. In June of the lat- 
ter year, he removed to Worcester ; on the 6th of July, 1824, was 
appointed County Attorney, by Gov. Brooks, succeeding Edward D. 
Bangs, Esq. ; and Attorney for the Middle District, by Gov. Lincoln, 
May 24, 1832, upon the organization of the criminal courts distinct 
from the civil tribunals. He represented the town in the Legisla- 
ture in 1827; and in 1827, 182S, 1S29, 1835, was one of the board 
of Selectmen. 

Austin Denny, son of Daniel Denny, was born in Worcester, 
Dec. 31, 1795. Although possessing a vigorous constitution, an 
accident at early age, occasioned a painful disease, which followed 
him to a premature grave. He graduated at Yale College in 1814, 
and commenced the study of law in the office of Hon. Nathaniel 
Paine. The malady preying on his system, deprived him of the 
use of his right arm, and so debilitated another member, that the 
exercise of walking was attended with difficulty. Fortitude and per- 
severance mitigated the pressure of misfortunes so severe. In De- 
cember, 1817, he was admitted to the bar of the Court of Common 
Pleas, and commenced practise in Harvard, in this county. In 1819 
he returned to Worcester. For several years he was editor of the 
Massachusetts Spy, and in 1823, established the Massachusetts Yeo- 



248 LAWYERS. 

man, and continued proprietor and conductor of that print until his 
decease, July 1, 1830. 

He was a well read lawyer, industrious and faithful in the trans- 
action of business, and a vigorous and able writer. ' Of his intel- 
lectual powers,' says one who knew him well, ' the distinguishing 
feature was clearness and strength of comprehension. His views 
were distinct, his knowledge exact, his reasonings just and candid, 
his expressions forcible and pertinent. Of his mind, the moral char- 
acteristic was purity. He was not one of the few, who could aston- 
ish by the vastness of the efforts, or the splendor of their achieve- 
ments. He belonged to a larger, and not less useful class, who give 
life and health and vigor to society, by bringing to its service prac- 
tical talents, useful knowledge, and blameless morals.' J 

Charles Allen, [Y. C. 1836, A. M.] son of Hon. Joseph Allen, 
born in Worcester, Aug. 9, 1797, entered Yale College, but soon 
withdrew from that institution. He studied with Samuel M. Bum- 
side, Esq. ; was admitted in August, 1818; and practised in New 
Braintree to July, 1824. In that year, he removed to Worcester, 
and was partner of Hon. John Davis to 1831. He was elected 
representative of the town in 1829, 1833, and 1834; of the Board 
of Selectmen in 1832 ; and Senator of the Commonwealth, in 1835, 
1836. 

Alfred Dwight Foster, H. U. 1819, son of Hon. Dwight Foster, 
born in Brookfield, studied in the office of Samuel M. Burnside, Esq. 
was admitted in 1822, and resided in his native town to 1824. He 
settled in Worcester in 1825, was professional partner of Mr. Burn- 
side, until 1827, and has since retired from practise. He was rep- 
resentative in 1831, 1832, 1833, and selectman in 1832. He has 
been one of the Trustees and Treasurer of the State Lunatic Hos- 
pital from 1833. 

William S. Andrews, H. U. 1812, son of William Andrews, born 
in Boston, studied at the Law School in Litchfield Conn., and with 
Hon. Francis Blake. He was in business in Spencer, Mass. in 1817 ; 
afterwards practised in Maine ; and in Worcester in 1824 and 1834. 
He is now resident in Boston, and has been author of several theolog- 
ical treatises. 

Isaac Davis, B. U. 1822, son of Phinehas Davis, was born in North- 
borough, Mass ; studied with Hon. John Davis ; and settled in Wor- 
cester, upon being admitted in 1825. He was one of the Visitors 

1 Massachusetts Spy, July 7, 1830. 



LAWYERS. 249 

of the Military Academy at West Point in 1833: Vice President of 
the Massachusetts Sabbath School Union from 1832 ; of the Mas- 
sachusetts Baptist Convention from 1833: of the New England 
Sabbath School Union from its organization in 1835: and President 
of the Board of Trustees of the Worcester Manual Labor High 
School from 1834. 

Thomas Kinnicutt, B. U. 1822, son of Thomas Kinnicutt, was 
born in Warren, R. I; studied with Hon. Francis Baylies at Taun- 
ton, Mass; at the Law School in Litchfield, Conn; and with Hon. 
John Davis ; and practised in Worcester from 1S25. He was in the 
House of Representatives of Massachusetts in 1835 ; Trustee of the 
State Lunatic Hospital in 1835, 1836; and Selectman in 1836. 

William Lincoln, H. U. 1822, son of Levi Lincoln, sen. 

Richard H. Vose, B. C. 1822, born at Augusta, Maine, son of 
Solomon Vose, Esq. grandson of Rufus Chandler, studied with Levi 
Lincoln and Hon. John Davis, practised here about a year in part- 
nership with Pliny Merrick, Esq. and removed to Augusta in 1824. 

Christopher Columbus Baldwin, son of Eden Baldwin, was 
born in Templeton, Mass. August 1, 1800; entered Harvard Uni- 
versity in 1819: and withdrew from that institution, with many of 
his classmates, May 1823. He entered the office of Levi Lincoln and 
Hon. John Davis, and on the retirement of the former from the bar 
completed his legal studies with the latter gentleman ; was admitted 
in June 1826, and commenced practise in Worcester. In May 1830, 
he removed to Barre, Mass. and in November following, to Sutton, 
Mass. where he formed a connection with Jonas L. Sibley, afterwards 
Marshal of Massachusetts. In the autumn of 1831, he was elect- 
ed Librarian of the American Antiquarian Society, and relinquish- 
ed a profession he never loved. The duties of this office were dis- 
charged with singular zeal and fidelity. While on a journey for the 
recovering of impaired health, and with the purpose of exploring the 
mounds and memorials of the perished nations of the West, he was 
killed, in Norwich, Ohio, by the overturn of a stage coach, August 
20, 1835, at the age of twenty five years. 

He possessed lively wit, antiquarian taste and knowledge, kind- 
ness of disposition and benevolence of feeling, and remarkable sin- 
cerity and simplicity of character. 

In the autumn of 1825, Mr. Baldwin became one of the editors 
and proprietors of the Worcester Magazine and Historical Journal, 
published by himself and William Lincoln, in monthly numbers, du- 
ring a year, forming two octavo volumes. He furnished the history 

32 






250 LAWYERS. 

of Templeton, many essays, biographical sketches, and selections 
of revolutionary papers, for that work. 

Isaac Goodwin, son of William Goodwin, long postmaster, and 
cashier of a bank in Plymouth, was born in that ancient town, June 
28, 1786. Educated in the common schools, he early entered the 
office of Hon. Joshua Thomas, a counsellor of good reputation, and 
was admitted to practise in 1808. He opened an office in Boston, 
but removed, August 16, 1809, to Sterling, in Worcester county. 
There he remained to April, 1826; then he became resident in 
Worcester, where he died, of dropsy of the heart, Sept. 17, 1832. 

One nurtured fast by the pilgrim's rock, on the soil they first trod, 
could not fail to imbibe the antiquarian's love of old times. Such 
taste, combined with studious habits and facility in the acquisition 
of knowledge, led him to familiar acquaintance with the traditionary 
lore and recorded narratives of New England's history. Diligent 
inquiry into the origin and progress of our social and beneficent 
institutions, with lively interest in their objects, enabled him to 
extend their usefulness. Readiness in assuming and transacting 
business of a public character, made him a valuable member of the 
community. Writing with ease and grace, he was frequent con- 
tributor to the periodical press. The general view of the county, 
and the detailed account of Sterling, in the Worcester Magazine of 
1826, were from his pen. He published ' The Town Officer,' in 
1826, which has been through three editions j and ' The New Eng- 
land Sheriff' in 1830; useful compilations of the duties of munici- 
pal and civil officers. Of the many occasional addresses delivered 
by him, the following were printed : address before the American 
Antiquarian Society, Aug. 24, 1820 : address before the Worcester 
Agricultural Society, Oct. 13, 1824 : Oration on the one hundred 
and fiftieth anniversary of the destruction of Lancaster by the In- 
dians, Feb. 21, 1826. 

Emory Washburn, W. C. 1817, son of Joseph Washburn of Leic- 
ester; studied with Nathaniel P. Denny, Esq. and Bradford Sumner, 
Esq. in his native town ; in the Law school of Harvard University ; 
and with Charles Dewey, Esq. then of Williamstown : and was admit- 
ted attorney at Lenox, in March, 1821. He practised at Charlemont, 
in Franklin county, for six months; in Leicester, to March, 1828; 
and since in Worcester. 

In 1826, he was representative of Leicester, Master in Chancery 
from 1830, and Trustee of the State Lunatic Hospital in 1836. 

Edward J. Vose, B. C. 1825, brother of Richard, studied with 



LAWYERS. 251 

Hon. John Davis and Charles Allen, Esq. was admitted in 1828, 
opened an office here in 1829, and died June 1831. 

Henry Paine, son of Hon. Nathaniel Paine of Worcester, entered 
Yale College in 1820, but soon left that institution on account of ill 
health; studied with Samuel M. Burnside, Esq ; and was admitted, 
and began practise here, in June 1827. 

William N. Green, son of William E. Green, a native of Wor- 
cester, pursued his professional studies with Samuel M. Burnside 
Esq. and commenced practise here in 1828. 

William M. Towne, A. C. 1825, son of Hon. Salem Towne, born 
in Charlton, Mass. studied with Hon. John Davis and Charles Allen, 
Esq : and commenced practise here in 1828. In 1834, he formed 
a partnership with Joseph W. Newcomb ; and in the autumn of 1835 
relinquished the profession, and engaged in manufactures. 

Jubal Harrington, B. U. 1825, son of Fortunatus Harrington, born 
in Shrewsbury, Mass. studied in the Law School at Northampton, 
Mass. under the instruction of the late Hon. Samuel Howe and Elijah 
H. Mills, and with Pliny Merrick, Esq. He commenced practise 
here in 1828; was editor of the ' Worcester Republican' from the 
establishment of that print, March 4, 1829; representative in 1831, 
1832, and 1836 ; and postmaster from Nov. 9, 1833. 

Charles G. Prentiss, born in Leominster, Mass. was son of Charles 
Prentiss. He studied with Rejoice Newton, and practised in Ox- 
ford, Worcester county, from his admission in 1821 to 1829. He 
then removed to Worcester, and has been town treasurer from 1832. 

Otis C. Wheeler, son of Daniel G. Wheeler, born in Worces- 
ter, studied with Hon. John Davis and Charles Allen, Esq. and was 
admitted to the bar in 1830. Consumption had fastened upon him, 
and he died, of that disease, while on a journey, at St. Augustine, 
Florida, Feb. 6, 1831, aged 23. 

Daniel Henshaw, H. U. 1807, son of Col. William Henshaw, 
born in Leicester, Mass. studied with Hon. Nathaniel Paine ; prac- 
tised at Winchendon, in Worcester county, to 1830 , in Worcester, 
during the succeeding year ; removed to Boston in 1832; and after- 
wards to Lynn, Mass. 

David T. Brigham, U. C. 1828, son of Edmund Brigham ; 
born in Shrewsbury, Mass ; studied with E. C. Southerland of Or- 
ange county, N. Y ; and Pliny Merrick, Esq ; was admitted and be- 
gan business here in 1831. 

Maturin L. Fisher, B. U. 1828, son of Rev. Lewis Fisher, born at 
Danville, Vt. studied with Isaac Davis, Esq ; was admitted 1831 ; 



2f>2 LAWYERS. 

and entered into practise here. Since the decease of Mr. Baldwin 
he has been acting Librarian of the American Antiquarian Society. 

George Folsom, H. U. 1822, of Saco, Maine, studied with Ether 
Shepley, Esq. and commenced practise here in 1832. 

Benjamin F. Thomas, B. U. 1830, son of Isaiah Thomas, jun. 
and grandson of Dr. Isaiah Thomas ; studied in the Law School of 
Harvard University, and with Pliny Merrick, Esq. and was admitted 
to practise in 1833. 

Edwin Conant, H. U. 1829, son of Jacob Conant, born in Ster- 
ling, Mass. studied with Rejoice Newton and William Lincoln, and 
at the Law School in Cambridge ; practised in Sterling to 1833 ; 
and since in Worcester. 

Jesse W. Goodrich, U. C. 1829, son of Jesse Goodrich, born 
in Pittsfield, Mass ; studied with Jonathan Jenkins of Rensselaerville 
N. Y ; and R. M. Blatchford in the city of New York. In 1833, 
he was admitted at the bar of Worcester county, and formed a co- 
partnership with David T. Brigham, which continued to June, 1836. 

Abijah Bigeloio, D. C. 1795, son of Elisha Bigelow, born in West- 
minster, Mass ; studied with Hon. Samuel Dana in Groton ; and for 
a short time with Hon. Samuel Dexter in Charlestown : and practis- 
ed in Leominster to 1817. On the decease of Hon. Francis Blake, 
he was appointed Clerk of the Courts, which he resigned in the spring 
of 1834, and opened an office in Worcester, in connection with George 
Folsom, Esq. This partnership continued about a year. 

Mr. Bigelow was member of the House of Representatives in the 
11th and 12th Congress, from 1810 to 1813. 

Ira Barton, B. U. 1S19, born in Oxford, Mass ; studied with Sam- 
uel W. Bridgham, Esq. in Providence, R. I ; Sumner Bastow, Esq ; 
in Sutton ; Levi Lincoln in Worcester ; and in the Law School at 
Cambridge ; and practised in Oxford to 1834. He represented that 
town in the Legislature of the Commonwealth, in 1830, 1831, 1832; 
and was Senator of Massachusetts in 1833, 1834. In 1834, he re- 
moved to Worcester, and, in Jan. 1836, was appointed Judge of Pro- 
bate for the county of Worcester, on the resignation of Hon. Nathan- 
iel Paine. 

George IV. Richardson, H. U 1829, son of John Richardson, now 
of Newton, born in Boston; studied with John H. Richardson, Esq. 
and Pliny Merrick, Esq: was admitted, and began practise here, in 
1834. 

Andrew Jackson Davis, son of Phinehas Davis, born in North- 
borough, Mass ; studied with his brother, Isaac Davis, Esq. and af- 



LAWYERS. 253 

ter admission to practise, in September, 1834, was connected in 
business with him for a year. 

Daniel Waldo Lincoln, II. U. 1831, son of Levi Lincoln, born in 
Worcester, studied with Rejoice Newton and William Lincoln, and 
was admitted to practise in 1834. 

Joseph W. Ncwcomb, W. C. 1825, son of Richard E. Newcomb, 
born in Greenfield, Mass. studied with his father and with Rejoice 
Newton and William Lincoln, practised in Templeton to 1830 ; 
Salisbury, Mass. to 1S34; and since in Worcester. He removed to 
New Orleans in the autumn of 1836. 

William Pratt, B. U. 1825, son of Col. Nymphas Pratt, born in 
Shrewsbury, Mass ; studied with Pliny Merrick, Esq ; and practised 
in his native town, until April, 1S35 ; when he came to Worcester, 
and formed professional connection with Mr. Merrick. 

Andrew D. McFarland, U. C. 1832, son of William McFar- 
land, born in Worcester, in 1811, studied with Hon. John Davis and 
Emory Washburn, Esq. ; commenced practise here in 1S35 ; and 
died in Worcester, June 23, 1836. 

John H. Richardson, H. U. 1825, brother of George W. Rich- 
ardson, born at Concord, Mass. studied with Hon. Levi Thaxter of 
Watertown, Hon. William Prescott and Franklin Dexter, Esq. of 
Boston ; and commenced practise in Newton, Mass. He removed 
to Worcester, April, 1836, and entered into partnership with his 
brother. 

George Ticknor Curtis, H. U. 1832, son of Benjamin Curtis 
of Boston, born in Watertown ; studied in the Law School at Cam- 
bridge ; in the offices of Wells and Alvord at Greenfield ; and of 
Charles P. Curtis in Boston ; was admitted in Suffolk, August, 
1836, and established himself in Worcester soon after. 

PHYSICIANS. 

It is not now practicable to trace with exactness the succession 
of physicians of the town, Of the professional life of the early med- 
ical men, no public record remains : of their personal history, little 
has been preserved. The few memorials of their useful labors 
which can be gathered, are derived principally from tradition. The 
following list, accurate so far as it extends, cannot be considered 
full or complete. 

Robert Crawford, was probably the first practitioner of medi- 
cine in Worcester. He emigrated from Ireland with the colony of 
Scottish extraction, planting here in 1718. From his employment 



254 PHYSICIANS. 

in the military expeditions of the period, in the capacity of surgeon, 
it may be inferred that he sustained respectable professional stand- 
ing. 

William Crawford, united the clerical and medical offices, and 
served in the French Wars, sometimes as chaplain and sometimes 
as surgeon. He was in the campaigns in Nova Scotia and on the 
northern frontier. l 

Samuel Breck, son of Rev. Robert Breck, second minister of 
Marlborough, who married Elizabeth Wainwright of Haverhill, in 
1707, was probably here in 1730. He too was surgeon in the prov- 
incial army. He removed to Windsor, Conn, about 1747, and died 
in Springfield, Mass. in 1764. 

Nahum Willard, son of Col. Abijah Willard, of Lancaster, was 
born, April 22, 1733, and probably settled here about 1755. He 
was surgeon of Capt. Goodwin's company, marching with Col. 
Chandler's Regiment for the relief of Fort William Henry in 1757: 
and was in extensive practise. He removed to Uxbridge, Mass. af- 
ter the revolution, and died there, April 26, 1792, aged 59. 

John Green, (sen.) son of Dr. Thomas Green, 2 was born at Lei- 

1 A branch of the Crawford family, was early settled in that part of Rutland called 
Dublin: several brought testimonials of tneir church fellowship in Ireland. Hon. Wil- 
liam H. Crawford, formerly Secretary of the Treasury of the United States, and Judge 
of the Supreme Court of Georgia, is said to have descended from the planters of Rut- 
land. Reed's Rutland, 155. 

2 Thomas Green, ancestor of a family distinguished through successive generations 
for medical skill, was a native of Maiden, Mass. The surgeon of a British ship, a cas- 
ual visitor of his father, probably gave direction to the taste of the son, by the donation 
of a volume on medicine. Active, energetic, and enterprising, he set forth into the wil- 
derness to seek fortune, with the outfit of an axe, a gun, a cow, and his whole library of 
one book, and became an early settler of the plantation, called by the natives Towtaid, 
by the English Straioberry-bank , now Leicester. His first dwelling was formed under 
a shelving rock, which stretched a natural roof over his cabin. The severe labor of 
hewing away the forest brought on a fever. Feeling the premonitory symptoms of the 
disease, he provided for subsistence during impending sickness in the solitude, by tying 
the calf of the single animal he owned, near his primitive habitation, and when the 
mother returned to feed her offspring, he was enabled to obtain the nourishment feeble 
condition prevented him from seeking abroad, and thus, alone, and unassisted, he pre- 
served a valuable life through severe illness. 

The Indians were near neighbors of the white settler. From their communicated know- 
ledge of roots and herbs, from the science drawn from a few books, and, more than all, 
from the action of a vigorous mind, he soon became skilful as a physician. While he 
exercised the cure of bodies, he assumed the care of souls, as clergyman, an union of 
professions not remarkable in early times. His success as a preacher, was scarcely less 
considerable than his reputation as doctor. A respectable Baptist society was gathered, 
and a meeting house built, through his agency. A life of persevering industry and ex- 
tensive usefulness, terminated, October 25, 1778, at the age of 73 years. Thatcher's 
Medical Biography, 274. Washburn's Leicester in Wor. Hist. Mag. ii. 92. 



WILLIAM PAINE. 255 

cester, Aug. 14, 1736. Educated by his father, and inheriting pe- 
culiar talents, he came into the profession early, and settled in Wor- 
cester, about 1757. Tradition bears ample, though very general, tes- 
timony of his worth. Fortunate adaptation of natural capacity to pro- 
fessional pursuits, gave an extensive circuit of employment and high 
reputation. Habits of accurate observation, the action of vigorous 
intellect, and the results of experience, seem to have supplied the 
place of that learning, deriving its acquirements from the deductions 
of others, through the medium of books. Enjoying great esteem for 
skill and fidelity, hospitality and benevolence secured personal re- 
gard. He was a leading and influential whig, member of the revo- 
lutionary committees, representative in 1777, and selectman in 1780. 
He died Oct. 29, 1799, aged 63 years. 1 

Elijah Dix, son of James Dix of Waltham, studied with the elder 
Dr. Green, and commenced practise about 1770. Managing exten- 
sive concerns, and having much employment as physician and drug- 
wist, he was in active business more than thirty years. He died at 
Dixmont, Me. June 7, 1809. 

William Paine, H. U. 1768, eldest son of Hon. Timothy Paine, 
was born in Worcester, June 5, 1750. One of his early instructors 
was President John Adams, who taught a school while reading law 
in the office of James Putnam. His medical studies were under the 
direction of the late venerable Dr. Edward A. Holyoke, at Salem. 
After the usual period of novitiate, he commenced practise here, in 
1771. A partnership was formed with Drs. Levi Shepherd and 
Ebenezer Hunt of Northampton, for the sale of drugs and medicines, 
and the first apothecary's shop of the county opened here, about 1772. 
For the purpose of facilitating the negotiations of this business 
abroad, and of perfecting his medical education, Dr. Paine visited 
Europe, long previous to the commencement of hostilities. Sail- 
ing from England, in the spring of 1775, he found, on his arrival at 
Salem, that war had broken out. The proceedings of the revolu- 
tionary tribunals, were summary. On the evidence that he was an 
absentee, he was denounced as loyalist. Return to his family and 
home being precluded, he took passage back to Liverpool, designing 
to avail himself of the advantages and means of improvement af- 
forded by foreign institutions, until the conflict should terminate. 
His property, thus abandoned, suffered confiscation, and his name was 
inserted on the list of those designated as enemies of their country. 

1 Dr. Green married Mary Osgood, and afterwards Mary, daughter of Brigadier 
Timothy Ruggles, who died June 16, 1814, aged 74 years. 



250 PHYSICIANS. 

After a year's attendance on the hospitals, having received the 
diploma of Doctor of Medicine from Marischal College, Aherdeen, 
Nov. 1, 1775, as the contest still continued, he accepted the commis- 
sion of Apothecary to the forces in America, entered the army in 
that capacity, and served in Rhode Island and at New York. In 
January, 17S1, in attendance on his patient, Lord Winchelsea, he 
again crossed the Atlantic. Driven from her course by storms, the 
ship entered the port of Lisbon. After some stay there, he went 
to England, and in October > was admitted licentiate of the Royal 
College of Physicians, and, for a long time, his name was enrolled 
among those of the practitioners of London. Returning to New 
York, in March, 1782, he was appointed by Sir Guy Carlton, in 
October following, Physician to the army, and soon was ordered to 
Halifax, where he remained on duty, until the troops were reduced, 
in 1783, when he was disbanded on half pay. In June, 1784, he 
took possession of Le Tete Island, in the Bay of Passamaquoddy, 
granted by the government for services, and erected a house, with 
a view to permanent residence. The solitude of the wild situation 
not proving agreeable to his family, he removed, and entered into 
practise in the city of St. Johns. In 1785, he was elected member 
of the assembly of New Brunswick, from the County of Charlotte ; 
and appointed Clerk of that body. The office of deputy, was con- 
ferred by his friend, Gov. Wentworth, Surveyor General of the 
King's Forests, and retained until the summer of 1787, when, by 
permission from the War Office, he went to Salem. With good 
professional business, and occasionally writing marine policies there, 
after the death of his father, July 17, 1793, he returned to his native 
place, and occupied the paternal estate until his decease, April 19, 
1833, at the age of 83 years. 

Dr. Paine was fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sci- 
ences, and member of the Medical, Agricultural, Linnean, Essex 
Historical, and American Antiquarian, Societies. He possessed 
extensive professional learning and refined literary taste, and was 
equally respected as a physician and citizen. 

Joseph Lynde, son of Joseph Lynde, 1 born at Charlestown, Mass. 
Feb. 8, 1749, commenced practise about 1774, and was for a time 

i Joseph Lynde, H.U. 1723, born at Charlestown, Mass. Jan. 7, 1703, married Mary 
Lemraon, Feb. 24, 1736. After the destruction of Charlestown by the British troops in 
1775, he lesided in Worcester till his death. Four of his daughters married here: 1. 
Sarah, b. Feb. 21, 1743, m. Andrew Duncan : 2. Dorothy, b. May 23, 1746, m. Dr. 
Elijah Dix : 3. Elizabeth, b. Oct. 1, 1756, m. Theophilus Wheeler, Esq. d. March 7, 
1833: 4. Hannah, b. July 4, 1760, married Hon. Edward Bangs, d. Sept. 10, 1806. 



THADDEUS MACCARTY. 257 

connected with Dr. Dix ; superintended the Hospital for the small 
pox in 1775, and had the reputation of a first rate physician and an 
excellent man. He removed about 1783, and established himself 
as druggist in Hartford, Conn, and died in that city, Jan. 15, 1829, 
aged 80. 

Among other physicians in practise here before the revolution were 
these: Ebenezer Whitney, in the inventory of whose estate, 
March 7, 1744, the library is appraised at 4s. Gd. and the drugs at 
£ 6. 18s. : Zachariah Harvey, whose medical title is preserved on 
:he records, with the fact that he slew sixty seven rattlesnakes in 
1740 : John Fiske, who died here in 1761 : Thomas Nichols of 
Danvers, who came from Sutton about 1765, and died Dec. 17, 
1794, at the age of 82 years : William and George Walker, sons 
3f that Capt. John Walker, who commanded a company of foot in 
the provincial service during the French wars, 

Thaddeus Maccarty, Y. C. 1766, son of Rev. Thaddeus Mac- 
carty, was born in Worcester, Dec. 19, 1747. Under the instruc- 
tion of Dr. John Frink of Rutland, an eminent physician of the 
county, he received his medical education, and commenced practise 
in Dudley, in 1770, entering into partnership and extensive business 
with Dr. Ebenezer Lillie. On the termination of three years, this 
connection was dissolved. Removing to Fitchburg, Mass. he found 
there full and laborious employment. The small pox made fearful 
ravages in the country about this period. Dr. James Latham, man- 
aged this terrible disease, once the scourge of the race, with great 
safety in the Suttonian method. 1 To acquire the art of resisting the 
prevalent malady, in 1775, Dr. Maccarty left his family, repaired to 
a hospital in Great Barrington under the superintendence of this 
practitioner, and learned the mode of cure by suffering its operation. 
In the following year, having obtained the right to extend the rem- 
edy, and the license required by law from the Court of Sessions, with 

1 The remedy was kept secret by the inventor, Dr. William Sutton, of Surry, in Eng- 
land, except from those who purchased knowledge. It is hinted in a publication of the 
time, that, in obtaining his patent, he veiled his discovery by a false specification. Dr. 
Latham, surgeon in his majesty's 8th regiment of foot, partner and agent of Sutton, who 
introduced the system in America, resided at Livingston Manor, in New York. He 
licensed physicians to administer the medicines prepared and furnished by himself 
within certain towns and limits, they contracting to pay over to him one half of all mon- 
ies received, until his portion should amount to three hundred pounds, and afterwards, 
one third of all further sums obtained in the business; and covenanting not to attempt, 
by analysis or otherwise, to discover the composition of the medicines. Different inno- 
cent drugs were mixed in the preparation, to defeat any examination which might be 
made. MS. of John W. Stiles, Esq. 

33 



258 PHYSICIANS. 

Dr. Israel Atherton of Lancaster, he conducted a hospital in Fitch- 
burg, with such success, that of eight hundred patients, five only 
were lost by death. The earnest solicitations of his father, the 
venerable clergyman of Worcester, then fast declining to the grave, 
induced the son, at great sacrifice, to return to his native town, in 
June, 1781. In June, 1785, he was elected Fellow of the Massa- 
chusetts Medical Society. Not receiving adequate patronage here, 
and his own health being much impaired, he took up his permanent 
residence in Keene, N. H. in June, 1789, and engaged in mercan- 
tile business, practising physic occasionally. In the spring of 1793, 
he again made use of Dr. Sutton's medicine, in a small pox hospital at 
Charlestovvn, N. H. In 1796, he applied Dr. Perkins' once famous 
Metallic Tractors, with singular efficacy. For some time, wonder- 
ful cures were wrought, and these fanciful agents, in his hands, en- 
joyed signal reputation. But the warm faith so essential to their 
usefulness subsided, and the Tractors sunk beneath the merciless 
satire of Fessenden. In February, 1797, Dr. Maccarty was com- 
missioned Justice of the Peace for the County of Cheshire, and in 
February, 1802, of the Quorum, and officiated extensively in the 
capacity of magistrate. He was Chairman of the Selectmen of 
Keene for many years. He died in that town, Nov. 21, 1802. 1 

John Green, the second of like name and fame, born in Wor- 
cester, March 18, 1763, came to the practise of medicine at the early 
age of eighteen years. ' From his childhood,' writes his biogra- 
pher, 2 'the natural bias of his mind led him to that profession, 
which, through life, was the sole object of his ardent pursuit. To 
be distinguished as a physician, was not his chief incentive. To 
assuage the sufferings of humanity by his skill, was the higher mo- 
tive of his benevolent mind. Every duty was performed with deli- 
cacy and tenderness. With these propensities, aided by a strong, 
inquisitive, and discriminating mind, he attained to a preeminent 
rank among the physicians and surgeons of our country.' It has been 
the high privilege of few of our community to enjoy so much of con- 
fidence and respect ; to be so loved while living, and so mourned 
when dead. A life whose events were acts of usefulness, skill, and 

1 Dr. Maccarty married Experience, daughter of Thomas Co\vdin,Esq. of Fitchburgh, 
Jan. 1775: she died at Worcester, Jan. 29. 1789. His only daughter married, Nov. 
1801, John W. Stiles, Esq. sometime of Templeton, who died at Worcester, Sept. 1836. 

Although the Rev. Thaddeus Maccarty had a numerous family of fifteen children, 
there now survive of his posterity only one grand child, two great-grandchildren, and 
three great-great-grandchildren. 

* Hon .Oliver Fiske in Thatcher's Medical Biography. 



OLIVER FISKE. 259 

charity, affords few incidents for narrative : it was terminated Aug. 
11, 1808. 

Samuel Prentice, a man of talents and eminent as surgeon, 
came from Stonington, Conn, in January, 1783. A Medical Soci- 
ety was formed in the County in 1785, but not sustained. Of this 
association he was Secretary. He removed to Keene, N. H. about 
1786 ; and afterwards settled in Saratoga, N. Y. 

Oliver Fiske, H. U. 1787, son of Rev. Nathan Fiske, was born 
in Brookfield, Mass. Sept. 2, 1762. His early education was superin- 
tended by his father, whose productive farm, during most of the 
revolutionary war, was, from necessity, principally confided to his 
management. In the summer of 1780, a requisition for recruits was 
made. The quotas of men, had, thus far, been furnished without 
compulsory process ; but levies had been so frequent, that none 
would enlist freely, at a season so busy. The company, then com- 
manded by the late Major General John Cutler, was ordered to meet 
for a draft. Exempted, by the courtesy extended to clergymen, from 
military duty, and never having been enrolled, Dr. Fiske offered 
himself as volunteer, with the approbation of his father, who ap- 
plauded the patriotic spirit, while the personal sacrifice it involved 
was severely felt. Animated by the example, the requisite number 
came from the ranks on the parade. The regiment, in which they 
were embodied, was ordered to West Point, and was stationed in the 
vicinity of that post, at the defection of Arnold and the capture and 
execution of Andre. On being discharged, he returned to the farm, 
and was employed in its cultivation until the close of the war, in 
1783, when he entered Harvard College. At the breaking out of 
Shay's Insurrection, he was instrumental in reorganizing the Marti- 
Mercurian Band of the University, in obtaining an order from Gov. 
Bowdoin for sixty stands of arms at Castle William, and was second 
officer of the company. When the Court commenced at Concord, 
he was the organ of a petition from this corps, to march in support 
of government, which was properly declined by the authorities of the 
institution. In the winter vacation of 1786-7, he took a school at 
Lincoln, but hearing of the threatened movements of the malcontents 
to stop the judicial tribunals at Worcester, he procured a substitute 
to assume his engagement, exchanged the ferule for appropriate 
weapon, and hastened to this place. Finding the enemy dispersed, 
and the troops on their way to Springfield, he set out to visit his 
father. On the heights of Leicester, the report of Gen. Shepherd's 
Artillery diverted him from his course. Uniting himself to a body 



200 PHYSICIANS. 

of light horsemen, then on their route, he joined Gen. Lincoln's 
army. When the rebellion was suppressed, he resumed his studies, 
without censure for the long absence, and graduated in 1787. After 
the usual preparation, under the tuition of Dr. Atherton, of Lan- 
caster, he commenced business in this town, in October, 1790. He 
was active in forming a County Medical Association, and in obtain- 
ing the establishment of the present district organization of the 
Mass. Medical Society. Soon after the formation of the last named 
body in the second medical district, he was elected President, and 
held the offices of Councillor and Censor until he retired from the pro- 
fession. In February, 1803, he was appointed special Justice of the 
Court of Common Pleas. During five years succeeding 1809, he 
was member of the Executive Council. The commissions of Jus- 
tice of the Peace, of the Quorum, and throughout the Common- 
wealth, were successively received, and the latter has been renewed 
to the present time. Dr. Fiske was Corresponding Secretary of the 
Linnean Society of New England in 1815; of the Worcester Agri- 
cultural Society from 1824 ; and Councillor of the American Anti- 
quarian Society. He was Register of Deeds during the triennial 
term from 1816 to 1821. From this period, an increasing defect in 
the sense of hearing, induced him to retire from busy life, and devote 
himself to the pursuits of horticulture and agriculture, those employ- 
ments, in his own graceful language, ' the best substitute to our 
progenitors for their loss of Paradise, and the best solace to their 
posterity for the evils they entailed.' The results of that taste and 
skill in his favorite occupations, early imbibed, ardently cherished, 
and successfully cultivated, have been freely and frequently commu- 
nicated to the public in many essays, useful and practical in matter, 
and singularly elegant in manner. 

John Green, B. U. 1804, son of the second Dr. Green, born in 
Worcester, studied with his father, and succeeded to his practise in 
1807. He has received the degree of M. D. from Harvard and 
Brown Universities, and been Councillor and Censor of the Mas- 
sachusetts Medical Society, President of the Worcester District 
Medical Society, and Councillor of the American Antiquarian 
Society. 

Benjamin Chapin, son of Thaddeus Chapin, was born at Wor- 
cester, May 29, 1781. He studied with the second Dr. John Green, 
and first entered into practise in Marlborough, Mass. In 1808, he 
returned, was elected town clerk from 1818 to 1833, and died here 
Jan. 15, 1835, aged 54 years. 



PHYSICIANS. 261 

Benjamin F. Hey wood, D. C. 1812, son of Hon. Benjamin Hey- 
wood, a native of Worcester, attended the lectures of Dr. Nathan 
Smith in the medical schools of Dartmouth and Yale Colleges, receiv- 
ed the degree of M. D. at the latter institution in 1815, and formed 
partnership in practise with Dr. John Green, which continued twenty 
years. He is Councillor and Censor of the Massachusetts Medical 
Society. 

Oliver Hunter Blood, H. U. 1821, son of Gen. Thomas H. 
Blood of Sterling, was horn at Bolton, Mass. His studies were pur- 
sued with Dr. Lemuel Capen in Sterling, and in the Medical Insti- 
tution of Harvard University, where he received his degree in regular 
course. He practised in Worcester from 1825 to 1828 : resided in 
Brookfield, Mass. from April, 1829, to Feb. 1831, when he returned 
to Worcester. 

John Simpkins Butler, Y. C. 1S25, son of Daniel Butler, born in 
Northampton, Mass. ; pursued his professional studies in the Medi- 
cal College in Boston, and the Jefferson Medical School in Philadel- 
phia, and received the degree of M. D. at the latter institution, in 
1828. He commenced practise in Worcester in 1829. 

George Chandler, son of Maj. John Wilkes Chandler, born in 
Pomfret, Conn., pursued his preparatory studies in Brown Univer- 
sity and Union College, read medicine with Dr. H. Holt, and 
received the degree of M. D. at Yale College, March 4, 1S31 ; 
commenced practise in Worcester, Nov. 3, 1831 ; and since March 
28, 1833, has resided in the State Lunatic Hospital, in the capacity 
of Assistant Physician and Apothecary. 

Samuel Bayard Woodward, [Y. C. 1822, M. D.] son of Dr. 
Samuel Woodward, 1 an eminent physician of Torringford, Conn, is 
a native of that town. Having received good academic education, 
he pursued medical studies, and entered into practice, with his 
father, in his birth place. Removing to Wethersfield, Conn, in No- 
vember, 18 1G, extensive engagements of business attended his high 
professional reputation. During his residence there, he was elected 
Secretary of the Connecticut Medical Society, Vice President of 
the Hopkins Medical Association, and one of the Medical Examin- 
ers of Yale College. In 1827, he was appointed Physician of the 

1 Dr. Samuel Woodward, born at Watertown, Conn. 1750, was not only distinguished 
in his profession, but in political life. From 1800 to 1810, he was the candidate of the 
democratic party, then a minority, for member of Congress ; was long member of the 
Legislature of Connecticut ; and, for many years, as the oldest representative, ' father 
of the house.' He died, Jan. 2G, 1835, aged 84. 



262 PHYSICIANS. 

State's Prison in Wethersfield, and held the office six years. In the 
spring of 1832, he was chosen Senator in the Legislature of Con- 
necticut from the first district. In the foundation of the Retreat for 
the Insane, at Hartford, he bore leading part. One of the first by 
whom the project of that noble charity was presented to. the public, 
by his efforts, the funds of the Medical Society of the State were 
bestowed for this most worthy purpose. Of the committees to ob- 
tain subscriptions, to assist in the foundation of the institution, 
determine its location, and superintend the erection of buildings, 
and one of the Visitors, the great weight of his personal exertions 
and influence were devoted to its prosperity. 

By a selection most fortunate for Massachusetts, Dr. Woodward 
was appointed Superintendent of the State Lunatic Hospital, and 
became resident in Worcester in January, 1833, 1 bringing to that 
establishment, on its commencement, those high qualifications de- 
sirable for its success. 

Since his residence here he has become member of the Massa- 
chusetts Medical Society, of the Ohio Historical, Philosophical and 
Medical Society, President of a Temperance Society, and connect- 
ed with other literary, medical, and useful associations. 

The heavy and increasing labors of his official situation, preclude 
him from exercising, beyond the walls of the hospital, except in con- 
sultation, the skill and experience acquired by wide practice. Yet the 
relation he holds, justifies, while his high character renders desira- 
ble, the claim, to number among our physicians, one of whose name 
any community might be proud. 

Aaron Gardner Babcock, son of Amos Babcock, born at Prince- 
ton, Mass ; studied with Dr. Chandler Smith in that town ; attended 
the lectures, and received medical degree at Bowdoin College, in 
1830; commenced and continued business in Holden for three suc- 
ceeding years ; and began practise here, in May, 1834. 

William Workman, son of Daniel T. Workman, born in Col- 
raine, Mass. studied with Dr. Seth Washburn at Greenfield, and 
Dr. Flint at Northampton, and received the degree of M. D. at the 
Medical College of Harvard University in 1825. He practised in 
Shrewsbury from 1825 to 1835, and in April of the latter year, re- 
moved to Worcester. 

» On the removal of Dr. Woodward from Wethersfield, a card was transmitted to him, 
subscribed by 670 persons, expressing warm personal regard, high respect for his tal- 
ents, worth and usefulness, and the sincere regret, which would ,be understood by all 
who enjoy his acquaintance, for his departure. Mass. Spy, Jan. 16, 1833. 



PHYSICIANS. 263 

Chandler Smith, son of Calvin Smith, born in Peru, Berkshire 
county, studied with Dr. John M. Smith of West Boylston, received 
his professional diploma from the Berkshire Medical Institution in 
1825: and practised in Princeton, Mass. from Nov. 182G, until his 
removal to Worcester in June, 1836. 

Among the physicians since the revolution, not included in the 
foregoing list, were: George Holmes Hall, a native of Medford, 
who practised here nearly three years from 1788, married a dauo-h- 
ter of Gardner Chandler, and removed to Brattleborough, Vt. where 
he remained in his profession and in the business of apothecary : 
Samuel Willard, of Harvard, who was resident of this town about 
two years after 1790: and John Homans, afterwards of Brookfield 
now of the city of Boston, who was of Worcester a few months in 
1815. 

1 The kindness of that accurate antiquarian, the Rev. Dr. T. M. Harris, by a com- 
munication since the last sheet went through the press, has furnished materials for cor- 
recting and extending the very brief notice of Dr. Dix, on page 255. 

Doct. Elijah Dix, was born at Watertown, Aug. 24, 1747. Enjoying few advantages 
of early education, such was his desire to become qualified for respectable station in so- 
ciety, that, when a young man, he went to live with the Rev. Aaron Hutchinson of Graf- 
ton, engaging lo do sufficient work for him to pay for board and instruction. With 
this excentric man, who was a thorough scholar, he made good proficiency in the ele- 
ments of literature and science. His circumstances in life precluding the attainment of 
collegiate education, he entered himself as medical student with Dr. John Green. On 
commencing the practise of the profession in Worcester, he connected with it an Apoth- 
ecary's store, having been qualified for this business by being some time with Dr. Wil- 
liam Greenleaf of Boston, and by careful attention to the most approved Dispensato- 
ries. In the spring of 1784, having unsettled accounts with Dr. Sylvester Gardner 
who went, at the commencement of the revolution, from Boston to England as a loyal- 
ist, Dr. Dix, with an honorable sense of responsibility, made a voyage thither, with the 
means to liquidate the outstanding claims. An adjustment was effected to the mutual 
satisfaction of the old friends. The visit afforded opportunity, not only of enlarging his 
knowledge of mankind, but establishing correspondence, for trade, with the houses of 
eminent chemists and druggists in London. Besides a choice assortment of medicines, 
he brought back some valuable books and philosophical and chemical apparatus. Re 
turning to Worcester, he formed the plan of an Academy here, and uniting with him a 
number of gentlemen, the institution was commenced, and for some time flourished. At- 
tentive to public improvement, he was the first to set trees himself, and induce others to 
plant them, on the borders of Main Street. He was one of the most efficient and zeal- 
ous promoters of the Worcester and Boston Turnpike, a work affording, at the period 
of its establishment, great facilities to travel. Having built a house in Boston, and a 
store for wholesale druggist's trade, he removed there in 1795. After that part of Dor- 
chester, now South Boston, was set off from the metropolis, and connected with it by a 
bridge, he erected there an edifice, with furnaces and ovens, for refining Sulphur, and a 
laboratory for clarifying camphor, and other, preparations, proofs alike of chemical sci- 
ence and energetic spirit. 

He was of strong natural powers of mind, of active industry and ardent enterprise. 
As a physician, skill, improved by study, observation, and experience, rendered his ser- 
vices useful and successful. MS. of Rev. T. M. Harris. 



264 GRADUATES OF COLLEGES, 



CHAPTER XIV. 

Graduates of Colleges, and natives of the town who have received liberal education. 
Distinguished citizens. John Chandler. Capt. Jonas Hubbard. Col. Timothy Big- 
elow. Col. Ephraim Doolittle. David Thomas. Benjamin Heywood. Joseph 
Allen. Isaiah Thomas. 

Joseph Allen is the first person borne on the records of Harvard 
College from Worcester. His father was the Rev. Benjamin Allen, 
an early settler, to whom land was granted at the south east corner 
of the town. He was born Feb. 14, 1720, entered the University, 
but was not graduated, and, it seems, died early. 

Timothy Paine, H. U. 174S, son of Hon. Nathaniel Paine of 
Bristol, R. I. removed to Worcester at the age of eight years, and 
was long one of our most respected and useful citizens. Soon after 
leaving college he was engaged in the public service. The number 
and variety of offices he held, exhibit the estimation in which he stood. 
He was Clerk of the Courts from 1750 to 1774 : Register of Pro- 
bate from 1756 to 1767: Register of Deeds from 1761 to 1778: 
Member of the Executive Council of the Province from 1766 to 
1773; in 1774, was appointed one of this Majesty's Mandamus Coun- 
cillors, a station which was declined in compliance with public will 
expressed in the manner related in preceding pages : Selectman 
from 1753 to 1763, and from 1765 to 1774 : Town Clerk for ten 
years from 1753 : and Representative in 1788 and 1789. 

Solid talents, practical sense, candor, sincerity, affability, and 
mildness, were the characteristics of his life, which closed July 17, 
1793, at the age of 63 years. 

Rufus Chandler, H. U. 1766. See Lawyers. 

Samuel Willard, H. U. 1767, son of Dr. Nahum Willard, born 
April 13, 1748, studied medicine with Dr. Israel Atherton of Lan- 
caster, and established himself in Uxbridge in 1770. He was par- 
ticularly distinguished for his treatment of the insane. * 

1 He married Olive, daughter of Rev. Amariah Frost, of Milford, by whom he had 
two sons: I. Abijah, born Feb. 16, 1782, practised medicine in Uxbridge, and died 
April 12, 1816. 2. George, physician in Uxbridge, and representative of that town in 
the Legislature. Levi Willard, brother of Samuel, son of Nahum, born in Worcester, 
Nov. 24, 1749, studied with his father, and went into the practise of medicine and sur- 
gery in Mendon ; acquired good reputation in both departments ; and died there Dec. 
II, 1809. 



GRADUATES OF COLLEGES. 265 

William Paine, H. U. 17G8. See Physicians. 

Nathaniel Chandler, H. U. 1768, son of Hon. John Chandler, 
jorn Nov. 6, 1750, a student of James Putnam, was called to the 
3ar in 1771, and commenced husiness in Petersham, which he con- 
;inued until the courts were closed. Almost necessarily a royalist, he 
became a refugee, and, for a time, commanded a corps of volunteers 
n the British service. From New York he went to England. 
Returning, in 1784, he engaged in trade in Petersham. Sickness 
compelled him to relinquish the shop. He removed to Worcester, 
vhere he died, March 7, 1801. 1 

Samuel Paine, H. U. 1771, son of Hon. Timothy Paine, born 
iug. 23, 1754 ; was associated with his father as Clerk of the Courts 
md Register of Probate, before the revolution. He left the country, 
md visited New York, Nova Scotia, and England. He received 
i pension of <£84 per annum, from the British government, as an 
American Loyalist. After the war he returned home, and died in 
Worcester, June 21, 1807. 

William Chandler, H. U. 1772, son of Hon. John Chandler, 
)orn Dec. 5, 1752, left the country at the commencement of the 
■evolution, and remained with the British during that contest. He 
•eturned, and died in Worcester. 

James Putnam, H. U. 1774, son of James Putnam, Esq. born 
Nov. 16, 1756, retired to Nova Scotia immediately after leaving the 
University ; became a favorite with the Duke of Kent ; accompanied 
him to England, obtained the office of Marshal ; was member of the 
household of his patron, and one of the executors of his will. 

Daniel Bigelow, H. U. 1775, son of Daniel Bigelow, was born 
April 27, 1752. After leaving college, he instructed the town 
school to the spring of 1776. Then he formed connection with 
William Stearns, Esq. in the publication of the Spy. On the return 
of Mr. Thomas from Salem, in 1777, the newspaper was surrender- 
ed to its original proprietor. He then entered the office of Mr. 
Stearns, as student at law, was admitted June, 1780, and opened an 
office in Petersham, where he died Nov. 5, 1806. He was repre- 
sentative of that town from 1790 to 1795; senator of the county 
from 1794 to 1799 ; member of the executive council in 1801 ; and 
was successor to Judge Sprague and predecessor of Judge Paine, 
as county attorney. 2 

Nathaniel Paine, H. U. 1775. See Lawyers. 

Samuel Chandler, son of John Chandler, born Feb. 25, 1757, 

1 Willard's Address, 77. 2 Willard's Address 88. 

34 



266 . GRADUATES OF COLLEGES; 

was merchant, for some time connected with his brother Charles in 
Worcester, afterwards engaged in trade in Putney, Vt. and was in 
extensive business. He died Oct. 26, 1813, in Woodstock, Vt. He 
entered Harvard College in 1771, but soon left the University. 

Timothy Bigelow, H. U. 1786, was born in Worcester, April 
30, 1767. His father, Col. Timothy Bigelow, engaging in the pri- 
mary movements of the revolution, was soon called into military 
service. The early education of the son, necessarily devolving on 
maternal care, was commenced in the public schools of his native 
place. This then imperfect source of instruction was soon disturbed 
by the troubles of the times, and he entered the printing office of 
Isaiah Thomas, where he was occupied during two years. 1 The 
passion for books and the strong love of literature, were manifested 
amid the employments of the press, by the devotion of leisure hours 
to the acquisition of the elementary branches of English, and the 
rudiments of Latin. In 1778, he was placed, as pupil, under the 
charge of the Rev. Joseph Pope of Spencer. The spring of 1779 
found him in the quarters of the Continental Army, posted to watch 
the British forces on Rhode Island, gaining the manly accomplish- 
ments a camp affords, and enjoying the frank courtesies of military 
life. When the regiment of Col. Bigelow marched south, he re- 
turned to his home, and pursued his studies for two years under the 
kind superintendence of Benjamin Lincoln, son of the revolutionary 
general, then student at law ; and when this gentleman left Worces- 
ter, they were continued, under the direction of another law student, 
of great eminence in after life, the late Hon. Samuel Dexter, who 
accompanied his scholar, and presented him for admission at the 
University, in 1782. In college, Mr. Bigelow took prominent rank 
in a distinguished class,' 2 excelling in the exact sciences, and par- 
ticularly in mathematics. Leaving Cambridge, he adopted the pro- 
fession of the law, and entered the office of Levi Lincoln, sen. 
When the insurrection broke out, in 1787, he joined the army and 
aided in sustaining the government against the wild designs of its 

1 Hon. Benjamin Russell, long editor of the Columbian Centinel, and Senator and 
Councillor of Massachusetts, was apprentice of Mr. Thomas, while Mr. Bigelow was in 
the printing office. Warm friendship arose, and was cherished, between these gentle- 
men, until the death of the latter. 

2 Among his classmates, were the late lamented Chief Justice Parker, Christopher G. 
Champlin, U.S. Senator from Rhode Island, Thomas W.Thompson, U. S. Senator from 
New Hampshire, Alden Bradford, Secret*)- of Massachi Lowell of RoxburyJ 
and William Harris, President of Columbia College. Willi such competitors, excellence 
was high merit. 



TIMOTHY BIGELOW. 267 

nternal enemies. When a company of colonists was formed, by 
ien. Rufus Putnam, from the inhabitants of Worcester and Essex, 
or the first settlement of Ohio, he entered into the plan of emigra- 
ion, but was reluctantly induced to relinquish the execution by 
lomestic considerations. Admitted to the bar in 1789, he com- 
nenced, in Groton, Mass. the practise of a profession, whose duties 
md labors were sustained, for more than thirty years, by a constitu- 
ion never robust, against the pressure of bodily infirmity. In 1800, 
le removed to Medford, and while resident there had an office in 
Boston. His business was widely extended. Attending the courts 
)f Middlesex and Worcester, and those of Hillsborough and Merri- 
nack, N. H. he became one of the prominent counsellors at the 
bar of Suffolk, and, in the latter years of his life, was retained in 
nany of the important causes in Essex and Norfolk. Among able 
competitors and eloquent advocates, the broad range and multipli- 
city of his engagements, are indications of standing not to be mis- 
taken. A fluent speaker, well versed in his profession, enjoying the 
reputation of a good general scholar, he possessed the nobler merit 
of high moral and religious principles. 

Mr. Bigelow early entered the Legislature of the Commonwealth. 
From 1792 to May, 1797, he was representative from Groton : dur. 
ing the four succeeding years, Senator : in 1802, Councillor : in 
1804, he was again elected representative : for eighteen ensuing 
years was returned member of the House ; in 1S05, he was chosen 
its Speaker ; and in 1S08 and 1809, and subsequently, from 1812 to 
1S19 inclusive, presided over this branch of the legislative depart- 
ment with signal ability and popularity. Entering warmly into the 
politics of the times, and entertaining the views of the opponents of 
the policy and measures of the General Administration, he was a 
prominent member of the Federal party ; and in December 1S14, as 
delegate from Massachusetts, attended the Hartford Convention, with 
his colleagues, Hon. George Cabot, Hon. Harrison G. Otis, and Hon. 
William Prescott, of Boston. 1 In 1820 he was at the Council board ; 
but, before the term had expired, he had ceased from earthly cares 
and laid down the burden of mortality. He died at Medford, May 
18, 1821, aged 54 years. 

Endowed with ready apprehension, of active and inquisitive mind, 
gathering knowledge with remarkable facility, exact method and 
system enabled him, under the pressure of a load of labors, to com- 
pass a vast amount of reading. Exploring almost every branch of 

1 Of this famous political assembly, Hon. Daniel Waldo of Worcester, was a member. 



268 GRADUATES OF COLLEGES. 

liberal science, he was peculiarly conversant with Theology. Resting 
on scripture truth as the basis of faith and the guide of practise, the 
better to resolve the dubious texts of the Bible, in his latter years, he 
added to familiar acquaintance with Greek, sufficient proficiency in 
Hebrew, to enable him to read the Old and New Testaments in their 
original languages. With rare colloquial talents, he freely poured 
forth the stores of diversified information, and the treasures of re- 
tentive memory, enlivened by illustrative anecdote, and a vein of 
sparkling humor. He was member of the American Academy, and 
Vice President of the American Antiquarian Society. 1 He was 
active in establishing and conducting, the association of the ' Mid- 
dlesex Husbandmen.' Taste for Horticulture, led him to execute a 
systematic plan of ornamental gardening around his home, which 
his liberal spirit made the seat of hospitality, and where were exer- 
cised the social and domestic virtues, rendering his private life as 
excellent, as his public course was eminent.- 

Thomas Chandler, H. U. 1787, son of the third Hon. John 
Chandler, born Jan. 11, 1708, was merchant, and died here. 

Gardner L. Chandler, H. U. 1787, son of Col. Gardner Chand- 
ler, born Nov. 29, 1768, studied law with Levi Lincoln, sen. and dis- 
covered distinguished talent and capacity for a profession, which he 
soon abandoned, and devoted himself to merchandise, in Boston. 

Joseph Allen, H. U. 1792. See Lawyers. 

William Dix, H. U. 1792, son of Dr. Elijah Dix, born July 25, 
1772, studied medicine with Dr. Waterhouse in Cambridge, and 

1 While Free Masonry was in its palmy state in New England, Mr. Bigelow presided, 
for two triennial terms, over the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts, and, in that capacity, 
with a spendid cortege of craftsmen, in 1808, made a journey to Portland, to instal the 
officers of the Grand Lodge of Maine. 

2 Hon. Timothy Bigelow married, Sept. 1791, Lucy, daughter of Judge Oliver 
Prescott of Groton, one of the founders of the American Academy and of the Mass. 
Medical Society. His children were: 1. Katherine, m. Hon. Abbott Lawrence of Bos- 
ton. 2. Andrew, settled in the ministry, first, in Medford, afterwards over the first Congre- 
gational Church, in Taunton. 3. John Prescott, Secretary of the Commonwealth . 4. 
Edward residing at Medford: 5. Helen: 6. Francis, merchant in Boston . 7. Eliza- 
beth Prescott, living at Medford. 

The publications of Hon. Timothy Bigelow, were: 1. Oration before the Phi Beta 
Kappa, July 21, 1796, at Cambridge : 2. Funeral Oration on Hon. Samuel Dana, April 4, 
1798, at Amherst, N. H. : 3. Eulogy on Washington, Feb. 11, 1800, at Boston: 4. Ad- 
dress before the Washington Benevolent Society, April 30, 1814, at Boston. 

The materials for this sketch have been derived from a Memoir, kindly furnished by 
the Rev. Andrew Bigelow. Could the pen of that ripe scholar and elegant writer have 
been borrowed, ample justice might have been rendered to the worth of his father. 
In the Centinel of May 19, 1821, is a tribute to the memory of Mr. Bigelow, traced by 
his early associate, Maj. Russell, with the glowing pen of friendship. 



GRADUATES OF COLLEGES. 269 

took his medical degree in 1795, when he delivered an inaugural 
dissertation on dropsy, which was printed. He died at the island oi' 
Dominica, in the West Indies, April 4, 1799. 

Elijah Dix Gref.n, B. U. 1793, son of the second Dr. John Green, 
born July 4, 17(39, was physician in Charleston, S. C. where he 
died, Sept. 21, 1795. 

Samuel Brown, H. U. 1793, born Dec. 9, 1708, was son of Luke 
Brown, commenced the study of physic with the elder John Green, 
which was completed with Dr. John Jeffries, to whose daughter he 
was united in marriage, and established himself in Boston. An 
inaugural dissertation on the bilious malignant fever, July 10, 1797, 
of extraordinary merit, gave him, at once, distinguished reputation, 
well sustained by rare skill and science. As a testimonial of appro- 
bation of the high merit of his essay, a silver plate was bestowed by 
the Massachusetts Medical Society, of which he was member. A 
disease of the knee so impaired his constitution, that he submitted 
to the amputation of the limb. The result did not restore health. 
He died, at Bolton, Aug. 4, 1800, while on a visit to his mother, who 
had married William Osborne, an innkeeper of that town. 1 

Asa McFarland, D. C. 1793, son of James McFarland, was 
born April 19, 17G9. He was tutor in Dartmouth College two 
years ; and appointed Trustee of that institution ; which office he 
resigned in 1821. He was ordained minister of Concord, N. H. 
March 7, 1798, officiated twenty seven years, and died, Feb. 18, 1827. 
He was President of the N. H. Domestic Missionary Society, and 
connected with many other charitable associations. The Doctorate 
of Divinity was conferred upon him by Yale College, under the pres- 
idency of the venerable Dr. Dwight, in 1809. 2 

! Luke Brown, grandfather of Dr. Samuel, removed from Sudbury about 1750, opened, 
and long kept, a public house, north of Lincoln square, near the site of the ancient jail, 
and acquired wealth by speculation in wild lands. While on a journey to New York, 
undertaken for negociating the purchase of a township in Vermont, now Newfane, he 
contracted the small pox, and died, soon after his return, April 14, 1772, aged 58. He 
was succeeded in the business pf innkeeper, by his sor, Luke, who died Nov. 6, 1776, 
aged 31, leaving four sons, Luke, Arad, John, and Samuel. 

* The ancestor of this family here, was Daniel McFarland, who emigrated from Ulster^ 
in Ireland in 1718. His son Andrew, grandfather of Asa, left three sons ; William and 
James, both dying at Worcester ; and Daniel, who removed to Pennsylvania, about the 
commencement of the revolution, and settled on the Monongahela, where his descend- 
ants remain. Duncan, brother of the first Daniel, planted in Rutland. By his last will, 
Aug. 14, 1746, he devised ' to Daniel, my well beloved son, whom I likewise constitute, 
make, and ordain my sole executor, the one half of all my lands that I enjoy at present, 
on the strict condition that he will never marry Betty Harper.' 



270 GRADUATES OF COLLEGES. 

John Curtis Chamberlain, H. U. 1793, son of John Chamber- 
lain, born, June 5, 1773, read law with Hon. Benjamin West of 
Charlestown, N. II. was admitted to practise in 1796, opened an 
office in Alstead, and held prominent place at the bar of Cheshire 
county, lie was representative in Congress from 1809 to 1811. In 
1826, he removed to the Western part of the state of New-York, and 
died at Utica, Nov. 15, 1834, at the age of 62. 

Luke Brown, H. U. 1794, son of Luke Brown, jun. born Nov. 29, 
1772, read law and entered into its practise in Hardwick, Mass. 
where he married a daughter of Gen. Jonathan Warner, and for a 
time pursued the profession with indifferent success, but he soon 
abandoned his office. 

Henry Vassall Chamberlain, son of John Chamberlain, born 
Jan. 11, 1777, entered Harvard College in 1794. He withdrew from 
the University, studied law with Hon. Nathaniel Paine, and with his 
brother, John C. Chamberlain, was admitted in 1801 at the bar of 
Cheshire, N. H. practised in Farmington, Me. a few years ; about 
1810, removed to the South, and has resided for twenty years in 
Mobile, Ala. where he has acquired wealth and reputation. He has 
there held the offices of Port Warden, Alderman, Sheriff of the 
County of Mobile, Judge of the Orphan's Court, and Chief Justice 
of the Court of Common Pleas. 1 

William E. Green, B. U. 1798. See Lawyers. 
Moses Miller, B. U. 1800, son of Moses Miller who married 
Sarah Gray, born Nov. 23, 1776 ; was fitted for college, principally 
in the town school, under the instruction of Mr. Andrew Morton. 
He was tutor in Brown University three years, while acquiring the- 
ological education, and was ordained minister of Heath, Mass. 
Dec. 26, 1804, where he has since remained sole pastor of the 
Congregational Society. 2 

Tyler Bigelow, H. U. 1801, son of David Bigelow, studied 
law with Hon. Timothy Bigelow, in Groton, opened an office in 

1 His only child, Henry Chamberlain, a lawyer of good standing, has been member 
of the legislature of Alabama. 

2 The Rev. Mr. Miller, married Bethiah, daughter of Dr. Samuel Ware, of Conway, 
and has had nine children, of whom six are living. The oldest son was member of 
Amherst College in Sept. 1836. His grandfather, Moses, was for many years, deacon 
of the old South Church in Worcester, held many civil offices in the town during the 
revolution, was a man of firm patriotism, unusual soundness of judgment, strict integrity, 
and liberal benevolence. His great grandfather, was a soldier of Capt. Church in the 
Indian wars, was wounded severely, and carried a musket ball received, in fight, to his 
grave. 



GRADUATES OF COLLEGES. 'J71 

Leominster, and removed to Watertown, Oct. 4, 1804, where he has 
since resided, having received ample share of the confidence of cli- 
ents and the emolument of the profession. l 

William Fitz Paine, son of Dr. William Paine, born Nov. 2, 
1783, entered Harvard College in 1797, but withdrew; engaged in 
commerce; went abroad, and resided during several years at Port 
Louis, in the island of Mauritius, and since 1821, at Batavia in 
Java. 

Levi Lincoln, H. U. 1802. See Lawyers. 

Daniel Waldo Lincoln, H. U. 1803, son of Levi Lincoln, sen. 
born March 2, 1784, read law with his father, established himself 
in Portland, Me. was appointed by Gov. Sullivan, County Attorney 
of Cumberland ; was in practise in Boston from April 1810 > to July 
1813; resumed business in Portland ; and died April 17, 1815, at 
the age of 31 years. An Oration delivered at Worcester, July 4, 
1805, and one before the Bunker Hill Association, July 4, 1810, are 
the only printed memorials of the splendid genius he possessed. 

Levi Chamberlain, son of John Chamberlain, entered William's 
College in 1804, but after two years, took up his connections with 
that institution, and became student at law, first in the office of his 
brother John, and afterwards in that of Levi Lincoln ; came to the 
bar in Worcester, Dec. 1813 : practised in Fitzwilliam and Keene, 
N. H. : was Clerk of the Courts, and County Attorney of Cheshire : 
and from 1821 to 1833, member of the Legislature of New Hamp- 
shire, as representative and senator. 

John Green, B. U. 1804. See Physicians. 

FredericW. Paine, [H. U. 1819, A.M.] son of Dr.William Paine, 
entered Harvard College in 1803, but soon left the University for 
commerce. He was Representative in 1829 : chairman of the Board 
of Selectmen in 1831, and President of the Worcester County Mu- 
tual Insurance Company from 1832. 

John Nelson, W. C. 1807, son of Deac. John Nelson, born in 
Hopkinton, Mass. became resident here at an early age. He studi- 
ed with Rev. Dr. Austin, and was settled in Leicester, March 4, 
1812. 2 

1 The ancestors of this family of Bigclow, came to Worcester from Watertown. 
David Bigelow, father of Tyler, an ardent whig, was member of the revolutionary com- 
mittees, and delegate to each of the Conventions, at Concord, Cambridge, Boston, and 
within the comity, in which the town was represented, from 1774 to 178 l J. In the con- 
vention of 1787, to consider the Federal Constitution, he voted with the minority from 
jealousy ot delegated power. He died .May, 1810, aged 80. 

2 Of this gentleman a notice was inserted in the note to page 190. 



272 GRADUATES OF COLLEGES. 

Alexander Reed, D. C. 1S08, son of Deac. Ebenezer Reed, 
born at Mil ford, Mass. July 10, 1786, became an inhabitant of Wor- 
cester with his father, (who died here May 21, 1823, aged 82,) in 
179-1. Under the tuition of the celebrated Dr. Nathan Smith, he 
studied medicine, received medical diploma in 1811, and has since 
practised in New Bedford, Mass. The degree of Doctor of Medi- 
cine was conferred by Yale College, in 1816. Dr. Reed has been, 
for several years, the oldest councillor of the Mass. Medical Society 
for the Bristol county district. 

Gardner Burbank, B. U. 1809, a native of that part of Sutton, 
now Millbury, was son of Elijah Burbank, who came to Worcester 
about 1798 : he studied law with Hon. Francis Blake : was admitted 
to the bar : but immediately engaged in the manufacture of paper, 
and in 1835 removed to Sharon, Vt. 

Thomas Gardner Mower, H. U. 1810, son of Thomas Mower, 
studied medicine with Dr. Thomas Babbet of Brookfield ; received 
the degree of M. D. from the University of New York ; entered the 
army as surgeon in 1813 : served in the campaigns on the Canadian 
frontier during the war with England : and has since resided in the 
city of New York. 

Benjamin Franklin Heywood, D. C. 1812. See Physicians. 

John Brazer, H. U. 1813, son of Samuel Brazer, succeeded Gov. 
Edward Everett as Latin Tutor in Harvard University, in 1815 ; 
was Professor of the Latin language in that institution, from 1817 to 
1820 : and was ordained Pastor of the North Church, in Salem, Nov. 
14, 1820. He was elected Fellow of the American Academy, in 
1823 : one of the Overseers of Harvard University, in 1829 : and 
received the degree of Doctor of Divinity from that college, in 1836. 

Daniel Knight, B. U. 1813, son of Edward Knight, studied 
law with Levi Lincoln, practised in Spencer, and afterwards in Lei- 
cester, where he died, Aug. 16, 1826. 

George Allen, Y. C. 1813, son of Hon. Joseph Allen, studied 
theology with the Rev. Dr. Andrew Yates, Professor in Union Col- 
lege, and was ordained minister of Shrewsbury, Nov. 19, 1823. 

Henry Elijah Dix, H. U. 1813, son of Dr. Elijah Dix, born 
Feb. 6, 1793, studied medicine with Dr. John Warren of Boston, 
entered the United States Navy, and died in the Hospital atf Nor- 
folk, Va. Jan. 21, 1822. 

Austin Denny, Y. C. 1814. See Lawyers, 

Stephen Salisbury, H. U. 1817, son of Stephen Salisbury, 
studied law with Samuel M. Burnside, Esq. and was admitted to the 
bar, but did not enter into the practise of the profession. 



GRADUATES OF COLLEGES. 273 

Francis Arthur Blake, H. U. 1S14, son of Hon. Francis Blake, 
born in Rutland, April 4, 1794, but early resident here, adopted 
the profession and entered the office of his father. Admitted to the 
bar in 1S17, he settled in Cincinnati, Ohio, removed to the city of 
New York in 1823, where he died March 22, 1824, immediately 
after a favorable exhibition of talent as counsel in the trial of a capi- 
tal case. 

George Bancroft, H. U. 1817, son of Rev. Dr. Aaron Ban- 
croft, visited Europe in the autumn of 1818 ; was two years in the 
University of Gottingen in Germany, where he was admitted Doctor 
of Philosophy : spent 15 or 18 months in a tour on the continent; 
was tutor in Harvard College from 1822 to 1823 ; afterwards open- 
ed a high school at Northampton : and has resided for some years 
past in Springfield. In 1834, he published the first volume of the 
History of the United States: and has been greatly distinguished as 
a fine scholar and elegant writer. 

Baxter Perry, H. U. 1817, son of Deac. Moses Perry; born 
April 16, 1792 : studied theology in the Andover Seminary ; settled 
in the ministry at Lyme, N. H. ; where he died, Jan. 18, 1830. 

Robert Treat Paine Fiske, H. U. 1818, son of Dr. Oliver 
Fiske, is now practising physician in Hingham, Mass. 

William Lincoln, H. U. 1822. See Lawyers. 

Clark Perry, H. U. 1823, son of Deac. Moses Perry, studied the- 
ology at Andover, and was ordained at Newbury, Mass. Oct. 1828. 

David Perry, D. C. 1824, son of Deac. Moses Perry, of the 
Andover Theological seminary, was settled as clergyman, in Cam- 
bridgeport, in 1829. 

Isaiah Thomas, H. U. 1825, son of Isaiah Thomas, jun. has been 
proprietor and editor of the 'American,' a newspaper in Cincin- 
nati, Ohio, and merchant of that city ; and is now resident in New 
York. 

Andrew Bigelow, son of Walter Bigelow, entered Harvard 
College in 1825, but was compelled to leave his class by ill health. 
He became assistant instructor at Garrison Forest Academy, and 
died, at Worcester, April 1, 1826, aged 24. 

Benjamin F. Thomas., B. U. 1830. See Lawyers. 

William S. Lincoln, B. C. 1830, son of Levi Lincoln, read 
law with Rejoice Newton and William Lincoln, was admitted At- 
torney in 1833, and has since been in the profession in Millbury, 
Mass. 

Daniel Waldo Lincoln, H. U. 1831. See Lawyers, 
35 



274 GRADUATES OF COLLEGES. 

Harrison Gray Otis Blake, II. U. 1835, son of Hon. Francis 
Blake, is student of theology in the Divinity School at Cambridge. 

Henry Bigelow, H. U. 1S3G, son of Lewis Bigelow, is student of 
medicine. 

John Healy Heywood, H. U. 1836, son of Levi Heywood, 
is engaged in instruction. 

Henry Smith, B. U. 1836, was licenced to preach, and is minister 
of the Baptist persuasion. 1 

DISTINGUISHED CITIZENS. 

John Chandler. The ancestor of that branch of the Chandler 
family furnishing so many men of distinction in the ante revolu- 
tionary history of the county, was William Chandler, admitted 
freeman in 1G40, who died at Roxbury, June 19, 1641. His son 
John, inherited the patrimonial estate, and resided in that town until 
1686, when, with a company of neighbors, he emigrated, and 
founded a plantation at Woodstock, which was included in the gov- 
ernment of Massachusetts, until its inhabitants revolted to Connec- 
ticut in 1748, depriving our Commonwealth in after time, by their 
rebellion, of jurisdiction over a fair territory, and of citizens, except for 
this disloyal act, of most excellent character. He was deacon of 
the first church gathered there. 

1 The following young men from 'Worcester, are under graduates of the several Col- 
leges, September, 1836. 

In Harvard University; John Weiss, son of John Weiss; Senior: Pliny Earle 
Chase, son of Anthony Chase ; Samuel Jennison, son of Samuel Jcnnison ; John 
Waldo Lincoln, son of Levi Lincoln ; L< ri Lincoln Newton, son of Rejoice N'ewlon ; 
Sophomores. John Chandler Bancroft Davis, son of John Davis ; Benjamin Hey- 
wood, son of Dr. Benjamin F. Ilevuood; Freshmen. 

In Yale College. Edwin Osgood Carter, son of Pllias Carter; of the Jnwor class. 

In Amherst College. Samuel Austin Taylor, son of Samuel Taylor: Nahum 
Gale, son of Nahum Gale; Seniors : Horace T. Blake, son of Jason Blake: Thomas 
Allen Gale, son of Nahum Gale; Juniors: Charles Gleuson. son of Jonathan Gleason; 
Sophomore : Sumner Clark, son of Isaac Clark, Samuel lngersoll Goddard, son of 
Perley Goddard ; Harrison O'.is Hoioland, son of Southworth Howland : Freshmen. 

In Western Reserve College : Elias E. Carter, son of Elias Carter, Fresh- 
man. 

Among- the names of those registered on the Records of Harvard University as of 
Worcester, are Josiah Salisbury, 17'JS : James Putnam, I8C8 : Charles S Putnam, 1S14 
and Francis E. Putnam. 1815 They were not natives of the town, nor long resilient 
here. Among others from Worcester, who entered that College, but soon wiilxliew to 
other pursuits, or by rea>on of ill health, not noticed in the text, are these : John Patch, 
1791 . Joseph Dix, 1794: Nathaniel A. Paine, 18C9: William J. Seaver, 1810 : Gard- 
ner Paine, 1815: George Lincoln, 1832: and James F. Gleuson, who died, Aug. 17, 
1834. 



JOHN CHANDLER. 275 

John Chandler, son of Deacon John Chandler, and Elizabeth 
Douglas his wife, the first known in any public capacity in our annals, 
was born in Woodstock. He possessed strong natural powers, and 
with slight advantages of education, rose to distinction in the civil, 
military, and judicial departments of government. On the erection 
of the County of Worcester, he was appointed first Judge of Probate, 
first Justice of the Courts of Common Pleas and General Sessions, 
and Colonel of the regiment of militia ; offices, which he retained 
till his death, in 1743. He was Representative in the General Court 
from Woodstock, where he resided, and member of his Majesty's 
Council. 

John Chandler, named on our records the first, son of John 
Chandler and Mary Raymond of New London, Conn, his wife, 
born at Woodstock, Oct. 10, 1G93, removed to Worcester in 1731, 
and was Clerk of the Judicial Courts from that date to 1754 ; Re- 
gister of Probate to 1754; Register of Deeds to 1762 ; Sheriff from 
1751 to 1762; Selectman from 1732 to 1736 and from 1741 to 
1754; and Representative from 1735 to 1740. On the decease of 
his father, he succeeded to the higher offices of Judge, Colonel, and 
Councillor. His talents were rather brilliant and showy than solid 
or profound. With manners highly popular, he possessed cheerful 
and joyous disposition, indulging in jest and hilarity, and exercised 
liberal hospitality. While Judge of Probate, he kept open table, on 
court days, for the widows and orphans who were brought to his tri- 
bunal by concerns of business. He died at Worcester in 1763. 

John Chandler, son of the last mentioned John, and of Hannah 
Gardner, described as 'daughter of John Gardner, Lord of the Isle 
of Wight, in the Province of New York,' born, Feb. 26, 1720, as 
he succeeded to the military, municipal, and some of the judicial 
offices of his father, inherited the characteristic traits of his ances- 
tors. He was cheerful in temperament, engaging in manner, hos- 
pitable as a citizen, friendly and kind as a neighbor, industrious 
and enterprising as a merchant, and successful as a man of business. 
Leaving the country at the commencement of the revolution, he 
sacrificed large possessions to a chivalrous sense of loyalty. In the 
schedule exhibited to the British Commissioners appointed to adjust 
the compensation to the Americans, who adhered to the royal gov- 
ernment, the amount of his real and personal estate which was con- 
fiscated, is estimated at £ 11,037, and the losses, of the income of 
offices, from the destruction of business, and by other causes, at near- 
ly .£6,000 more. So just and moderate was this computation ascer- 



276 CAPT. JONAS HUBBARD. 

tained to be, at a time when extravagant claims were presented by 
others, that he was denominated in England, ' the honest refugee.' 
He died in London in the autumn of 1780. 

Captain Jonas Hubbard. The son of an early settler, he was 
born in Worcester. Previous to the revolution, he was engaged in 
the cultivation of his patrimonial estate, and in the management of 
extensive concerns of business. The first sounds of coming war 
found him an Ensign in one of the three militia companies of the 
town. A kw months before hostilities commenced, Captain Rufus 
Chandler, a decided royalist, afterwards a refugee, and an active 
and influential man, paraded his troops before some British officers 
who had visited him from Boston, and boasted to his guests of that 
loyalty among his men, which the king vainly expected would sus- 
tain his assumptions of power amidst a bold and intelligent yeoman- 
ry, knowing their rights and willing to defend them. 

When the volunteer company of minute men was raised, Hubbard 
was elected Lieutenant, and actively participated in the evening 
drills, after the labors of the day were over, and in the preparations 
made by the busy industry of the martial spirit of the times, for 
immediate action. 

Soon after this gallant corps marched to Cambridge, he was ap- 
pointed Captain. When the expedition through the Kennebeck 
wilderness, against Quebec, was planned, volunteers were enlisted 
from the army at large. The object of the service, or the destina- 
tination of the troops, was known only to the superior officers. It 
was understood that it would be attended with danger, labor, and 
suffering. Hubbard, brave and energetic, did not shrink from peril 
or hardship in the cause to which he had devoted himself, and, at 
his own request, was appointed to the command of a company, in 
the detachment of Arnold. While the troops halted at Fort Wes- 
tern, on the Kennebeck, he wrote to his wife, in terms worthy of a 
patriot martyr : ' I know not if I shall ever see you again. The 
weather grows severe cold, and the woods, they say, are terrible to 
pass. But I do not value life or property, if I can secure liberty for 
my children.' Captain Hubbard shared in the extreme sufferings 
of the march, and probably more than his proportion, as acting 
under a commission, among those who had no reverence for artificial 
distinctions, beyond that yielded to the legitimate authority of cour- 
age and wisdom. 

On the arrival of Arnold before Quebec, the golden opportunity 
when he might have entered its gates triumphantly was lost. The 



COL. TIMOTHY BIGELOW. 277 

attack was made by the way of the lower town, at midnight of the 
last day of December, 1775, in a fierce tempest. In storming a 
barrier, Capt. Hubbard fell, at the head of his company, severely 
wounded. Respected for his fearless intrepidity and loved for his 
personal worth, his men wished to remove him to a place of shelter 
from the fast falling snow, and of safety from the vollies of balls 
poured down from the ramparts. But he peremptorily refused. ' I 
came here to serve with you, I will stay here to die with you,' were 
his last words to a comrade who survived. Bleeding and stretched 
on a bed of ice, exposed to the bitter influence of a winter storm, 
life soon departed. It was a glorious time and place for the gallant 
soldier to yield up his breath, beneath the massive walls of the im- 
pregnable citadel, with the death shot flashing fast, and the thunder 
of battle swelling round him. 

The history of many families of New England is told in that of 
Capt. Hubbard. The ancestor, hardy and enterprising, went out 
from the cultivated country to redeem new tracts from the waste. 
The father, animated by a noble patriotism, exchanged the sickle 
for the sword, the peaceful pursuits of agriculture for the privations 
of military life. The sons, inheriting his adventurous and manly 
spirit, emigrated to Maine, where the eldest ranks among the foun- 
ders of towns. 1 

Col. Timothy Bigelow, was born in Worcester, August 12, 
1739. His father, Daniel Bigelow, was of that class of substantial 
farmers who have been distinguished here for independence, good 
sense, industry and probity.' 2 The youngest son, the subject of this 
sketch, was first apprenticed to a mechanic trade, and afterwards 
prosecuted the business of a blacksmith with diligence 3 He was 

1 Gen. Levi Hubbard, the first settler of Paris, in Maine, has borne many offices with 
honor. He was representative of Oxford District, in Congress, from 1813 to 1815. 

2 Daniel Bigelow married Elizabeth Whitney, and with his wife moved from Water- 
town to Worcester, and resided in that part of the town then called Bogachoa°", now 
Ward, where he died at the great age of 92 years. He had five children, David, Na- 
thaniel, Daniel, Timothy, and Silence : the latter, was for many years a school mis- 
tress; the former, with a single exception, have been before mentioned. His 
paternal ancestors early emigated from England. The first recorded notice of 
any of the family in this country, is of John Bigelow, an inhabitant of Watertown, who 
in 1636, served as Grand Juror, at a term of the Court held at Newtown, now Cam- 
bridge. He was possessed of extensive tracts of land, cultivated a farm, and 'was well 
to live.' The name was formerly written Biglo, by corruption from Bedloe, the more 
ancient orthography. 

3 He built a forge before the war on the south side of Lincoln Square. After return- 
ing from the army, he erected a triphammer and other iron works, on the site of the 
Court Mills, now owned by Stephen Salisbury, Esq. 



278 COL. TIMOTHY BIGELOW. 

soon ranked among the most energetic and prosperous of the young 
men of the village. With strong native power, and shrewd ob- 
servation of men and thing?, he labored to supply the want of the 
advantages of education : he collected a small but well selected li- 
brary, became acquainted with some of the best English authors, 
and gained the art of speaking with directness and force, and of 
writinor with point and accuracy. These acquisitions were soon 
called into full exercise. As the clouds of the revolution gathered, 
he was placed in prominent position among the whigs of the town. 
Our best educaled and most influential men were decided tories. 
Mr. Bigelow, espousing with ardor the opposite party, as early as 
March 1773, was elected of the local Committee of Correspondence, 
and, in December, organized the Political Society. 1 Meetings of 
these bodies were often held at his dwelling, and measures were 
there concerted in secret, which broke the control of the adherents 
of the king. The recital of his exertions would be but repetition of 
the narrative of that struggle between the patriots and royalists, with 
which he was identified, already spread through former pages. The 
bold and then treasonable resolutions of the town, in 1774, were re- 
sisted in the public meeting of the inhabitants by Col. Putnam, who 
remonstrated against the adoption, in an appeal of solemn and lofty 
eloquence : they were sustained vigorously, by Mr. Bigelow, and 
carried triumphantly. From that day the ' sons of liberty' were 
victorious, where toryism had possessed its strongest hold in the in- 
terior. Member of the famous 'Whig Club' assembling in Boston, 
he was associated with Warren, Otis, and other eminent movers of 
the springs of 'rebellion.' He was delegate in the Provincial Con- 
gress during Its first and second sessions. 2 When the company of 
Minute Men was formed, he was chosen, by unanimous vote, to be 
its commander. Under his unwearied instruction, this corps attained 
such excellence in military exercises, as to draw from Washington, 
on the first review, the expression ' this is discipline indeed.' On 
the day preceding the Concord fight, he had been engaged in prep- 
arations for the removal of the military stores to a place of safety, 
and returned, in good time to place himself at the head of his men, 
when they took up the line cf march, on the 19th of April, 1775. Ar- 

1 An account of this society and of the political exertions of Col. Bigelow will be 
found in the sixth and seventh chapters of this work. 

2 Col. Bigelow, with other leading whigs, desirous of the establishment of a press in 
Worcester, had made proposals to Isaiah Thomas to issue a newspaper here. An ar- 
rangement was effected for this purpose at the commencement of 1775. The removal 
of the Spy from Boston, took place immediately after the battle of Lexington. 



COL. TIMOTHY BIGELOW. 279 

rivincr at Cambridge, on the following day, he joined the army, as 
Captain, and soon after, by commission from Congress, was pro- 
moted to the rank of Major. In September 1775, he engaged, as 
volunteer, in the expedition against Quebec. Had that winter march 
:hrough the wilderness been the exploit of a Grecian phalanx, or 
Roman legion, the narrative of sufferings and dangers, severe as 
ivere ever endured or encountered, would have been celebrated in 
song and story. One of the three divisions penetrating through the 
forest, by the route of the Kennebeck. was commanded by Major 
Bigelow. 1 In the attack on Quebec, during the night of the 31st of 
December, in the assault on the fortress, exposed to a shower of 
balls from the barriers and ramparts, he was made prisoner, and re- 
mained in captivity until the summer of 1776. An exchange hav- 
ing been negociated, he returned, and was soon after called into 
service with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. The commission of 
Colonel was received, Feb. 8, 1777, and he was appointed to the com- 
mand of the 15th Regiment of the Massachusetts line in the Con- 
tinental Army, then forming, principally of the men of Worcester 
county. Remaining in Worcester, until the ranks were filled and 
the new troops drilled, he marched to join the Northern Army under 
Gen. Gates, and arrived on the scene of action in season to assist in 
the capture of Burgoyne. With his regiment, we afterwards trace 
him, at Saratoga, in Rhode Island, at Verplank's Point, Robinson's 
Farms, N. J. Peekskill, Valley Forge, and West Point. A braver 
band never took the field or mustered to battle. High character for 
intrepidity and discipline, early accpiired, was maintained unsullied 
to the close of their service. 

After the army was disbanded, Col. Bigelow was stationed for a 
time at West Point, and afterwards assigned to the command of the 
national arsenal at Springfield. When he left military life, it was 
with the reputation of a meritorious officer, but with straightened 
purse. The pay of the soldiers of freedom had been irregularly 

i During a clay's halt of the troops, on this memorable march, Major Bigelow as- 
cended a steep and rugged height, about 40 miles northwestward from Norridgewock, 
in Somerset County, Maine, for the purpose of observation. This eminence still bears 
the name of Mount Bigelow. 

A faithful and most interesting narrative of the campaign against Quebec, was pub- 
lished by John Joseph Henry, a soldier in the expedition, afterwards President of the 
Second Judicial District of Pennsylvania : the journal of Major Return J. Meigs is 
printed in 2 Ma^s Hist. Coll. ii. 227: some original letters of Arnold, are inserted in the 
Maine Historical Society's Collections, i. 341. From these sources maybe derived full 
detail of the memorable expedition. 



280 COL. TIMOTHY BIGELOW. 

advanced, in depreciated currency, 1 and large arrears were with- 
held. With a frame physically impaired by long hardship, toil, and 
exposure, with blighted worldly prospects, with the remains of pri- 
vate property considerable at the outset, but seriously diminished by 
the many sacrifices of his martial career, he returned to his home. 
With resolute spirit he set to work to repair his shattered fortunes, 
and resumed the old occupations of the forge and work shop. But 
times had changed since the fires of the furnace had been last kind- 
led. If the products of his skill were in as quick demand as in 
former days, responsible customers were diminished. Hard money 
had ceased to circulate; credit existed only in name; and public 
confidence was destroyed. Change too had come over the war 
worn veteran himself. The stirring occupations of the field, the habits 
formed by eight years of active service, the tastes acquired by 
residence in the camp, and action in the exciting events of the revo- 
lution, and disuse of old avocations, had produced inaptitude for a 
course of business so long discontinued. Still, he bore up against 
circumstances of discouragement, and contrived to maintain his 
family in comfort and in respectable position. With others, he 
obtained a grant of a township of land in Vermont, containing 
23040 acres, Oct. 21, 1780, upon which he founded a town and be- 
stowed the name of Montpelier, now the capital of the State. A 
severe domestic affliction, in 1787, the loss of his second son, Andrew, 
who fell a victim to rapid consumption, uniting with other disap- 
pointments, depressed his energy, and cast over his mind a gloom 
presaging the approaching night of premature old age. He died 
March 31, 1790, in the 51st year of his age. 2 

1 The following extracts of a letter from Mrs. Bigelow to her husband, Feb. 26, 1780, 
show the depreciated state of the currency. 

'On account of the heavy fall of snow, there is not a possibility of gelling wood from the 
farm at present, no one who does not live on the great road can bring any with a sled. 
The common price is fifty dollars, and it has been sold for fifty six dollars the load.' 
. . 'The money you sent me was very acceptable, for I was in debt for Andrew's pair of 
shoes, forty dollars; and also for some mending in the family, which made the account 
almost seventy dollars. I paid the servant, fifty eight dollars for what money he had 
expended on the road [in a journey of about 60 miles.] A bushel of malt now sells for 
thirty dollars, and a pound of hops for six dollars.' 

2 Col. Bigelow married Anna Andrews, a young orphan lady of Worcester, born 
April 1 1 , 1747, and at the time of her marriage, July 7, 1762, heiress of a fortune consid" 
erable in those days. The union was a love match, and was contracted at Hampton' 
N. H. the Gretna Green of the Old Bay State. She died at Groton, July, 1809. She 
was the only child of a connection formed under somewhat romantic circumstances. 
Her father, Samuel Andrews, at a late period of youth, having fitted himself for college, 
and passed the customary examination, was admitted to Harvard University. Return- 



COL. EPHRAIM DOOLITTLE. 2S1 

Col. Bigelow was of fine personal appearance. His figure was 
tall and commanding. In stature he was more than six feet in 
height. His bearing was erect and martial, and his step was said 
to have been one of the most graceful of the army. With taste for 
military life, he was deeply skilled in the science of war, and the 
troops under his command and instruction, exhibited the highest 
condition of discipline. He possessed vigorous intellect, ardent 
temperament, and a warm and generous heart. 

Col. Epiirai.m Doolittle. Although Worcester was not the 
place of the birth or decease of this gentleman, his long residence 
here entitles us to claim him among our citizens. Prdrrl 1760 to 
1772, he was an inhabitant, and during that period wa? engaged in 
business as a merchant. In 1763, he was selectman : in 1766, rep^ 
resentative. Taking active part in the political transactions of the 
times, he was placed on important municipal committees. From the 
commencement of the difficulties preceding the revolution, he was 
a decided and ardent whig. In 1772, he removed to Petersham ; in 
December of that year, he reported a spirited answer to the circular 
from Boston, distributed through the country. In 1773, he was se- 
lectman, and representative in the General Court. The year follow- 
ing, he was deleoate to the Provincial Congress convened at Concord. 
He was elected captain of a company of militia by the town, in the 
autumn of 1774, and soon after was colonel of the regiment of mi- 
nute men in the county. The troops under his command marched 
on the 19th of April, were mustered into service, and stationed in 

ing to visit his friends, before commencing his classes, he saw and became enamored of 
Anna, youngest daughter of James Rankin and Rachel Irving, his wife, emigrants from 
Ireland with the Scotch Presbyterians of 1718. His suit, prosecuted with ardor and as- 
siduity, was successful, and the bridal was soon solemnized. Abandoning the plan of 
obtaining a liberal education, he purchased and cultivated a small farm on the western 
shore of Quinsigamond. Diligence, prudence, and sobriety, brought the reward of 
prosperity. He removed to the village, erected a house on the site of the jail, lately 
pulled down, established a tannery north of the bridge on Lincoln square, and in 1749, 
built the old Bigelow mansion, opposite to the Court House, on the spot where the large 
brick dwellings of Stephen Salisbury, Esq. now stand, where he died. On his decease, 
the estate descended to his only daughter Anna. 

Col. Bigelow had six children, 1. Nancy, born Jan. 2, 1766, married Hon. Abraham 
Lincoln, long Selectman and Representative of the town, and Member of the Council 
at the time of his death, July 2, 1821. 2. Timothy : b. April 30, 1767, (See page 266.) 
3. Andrew, b. March 30, 1769, d. Nov. 1787. 4. Lucy : b. May 13, 1774 : m. Hon. 
Luther Lawrence, formerly of Groton, now of Lowell. 5. Rufus: b. July 7, 1772 : he 
was merchant in Baltimore, and died unmarried in that city, Dec. 21, 1813. 6. Clara: b. 
Dec. 29, 1781, m. Tyler Bigelow, Esq. of Watertown. 

The materials for this sketch have been derived from an excellent memoir of Col. 
Bigelow, kindly communicated by the Rev. Andrew Bigelow of Taunton. 

36 



282 HON. DAVID THOMAS. 

Cambridge. On the organization of the army, he retained his rank 
in the Massachusetts line. His regiment was engaged in the battle 
of the 17th of June. Col. Doolittle being confined to his bed by an 
accidental injury, they were led by Major Moore of Paxton, who 
found a soldier's honorable grave on Bunker Hill. 

For many years he was chairman of the committee of correspond- 
ence of Petersham : in 1778, of the committee reporting against the 
form of constitution proposed by the general court, and almost una- 
nimously rejected by the people : in 1779, delegate in the convention 
at Cambridge, to frame a new consitution. He participated in al- 
most every act of a public character in Worcester and Petersham, 
during his residence in either town. 

Soon after the close of the war, he removed to Shoreham in Ver- 
mont, where he remained until the period of his decease, in 1802, 
at an advanced old age. 

He was more distinguished for sound judgment and accuracy, 
than brilliancy or extent of talent ; for the scrupulous practise of com- 
mon virtues, rather than the exercise of extraordinary powers. 

A curious implement was invented by him, to supply the defi- 
ciency of muskets in the armament of his regiment. When the long 
shaft, of heavy material, was held levelled towards an advancing ene- 
my, two stout blades, eight inches long, united to a strong head, pro- 
jected forward like the prongs of the hay fork : two other blades of 
equal length extended laterally, and another was turned downwards, 
to give a descending blow. Five little swords, whetted on both edges, 
were thus provided, to attack an assailant on any exposed point. The 
handle was lined, for two or three feet from the end, with sharp steel 
plates set in the wood, to defend it from sabre cuts, and to lacerate 
the hand which should grasp the weapon to wrest it from the owner. 
The lowei extremity terminated in a rounded iron point, to be fixed 
in or against rampart or masonry. The formidable instrument of 
warfare, after short trial, was laid aside. 

Hon. David Thomas. About 1718. David Thomas, an emigrant 
from Wales, arrived in Worcester, purchased, cleared, and after- 
wards cultivated, a tract of woodland on the summit of Tatnuck hill, 
in the western part of the town, where he lived to a good old age. 
Land and name were inherited by li is son David, born in 1740, who 
bestowed the latter on his son, David, the subject of this notice, born 
in Worcester, June 11, 17G2. From the early age at which the chil- 
dren of New England begin their lessons of industry until fifteen, 
he labored on the farm, attending in winter the common school of 



HON. BENJAMIN HEY WOOD. 283 

the district. In 1777, he served as a volunteer, with the troops rais- 
ed for the relief of Rhode Island ; at one time for the term of three 
months ; at another for two. Soon after, he was bound apprentice to 
the shoemaker's trade. In 1781 the town was required to furnish twen- 
ty nine soldiers for the army of the revolution, and the inhabitants 
were divided into the same number of classes, each to furnish, pay, 
and maintain one man during three years. Mr. Thomas entered into 
an agreement with Capt. Palmer Goulding, with whom he lived, and 
who was head of a class, to cancel the indentures, and enlisted in 
the service as a soldier for that class. He joined the fifth Massa- 
chusetts Regiment, under Col. Rufus Putnam, at West Point, and 
was appointed to be corporal : on the preliminary articles of peace 
being signed, he was transferred to the third regiment of the state 
line, and promoted to be serjeant. When the army was disband- 
ed, he returned to Worcester. His residence in his native place 
was short. In the spring of 1784, he emigrated to Salem, in Wash- 
ington county, New York, and engaged in agriculture, as a day la- 
borer. Industry, frugality, and capacity, earned their just rewards. 
He was enabled to become the owner of the farm upon which he had 
hired. Military offices were showered fast upon him. He rose, step 
by step, through the gradations of captain, major, colonel, andbrig- 
adier, to the rank of Major General of a division of militia. Civil 
honors flowed scarcely less rapidly. He was magistrate, county 
judge, and representative in the state legislature many years. In 
1800, he was elected representative in Congress, when New York 
was entitled to ten members only, from a district composed of the 
counties of Washington, Saratoga, Warren, Essex, Clinton, and 
Franklin. This office he held until 1808, when he was appointed 
Treasurer of the State of New York, and, ex officio, Commission- 
er of the Land Office, and trustee of Union College. To discharge 
these duties, it became necessary for him to remove to the city of 
Albany. There he resided until 1813, when he resigned all public 
trusts, in consequence of domestic troubles. After his retirement 
to private life, he removed to Providence, where he remained till his 
decease, in 1834, at the age of 72. 

Hon. Benjamin Heywood was son of Phinehas Hey wood, a 
respectable farmer of Shrewsbury. At the common age, he was 
bound apprentice to a housewright. Having completed the term pre- 
scribed by his indentures, he began business as carpenter, and work- 
ed at that trade one or two years. Love of letters, and confidence of 
capacity for usefulness, induced him to throw aside the hammer and 



284 HON. BENJAMIN HEYVVOOD. 

chisel, and devote himself assiduously to "preparations for collegiate 
education. He entered Harvard College in 1771. There is cotem- 
porary evidence of his sobriety of conduct, diligent application, and 
proficiency in mathematical science. 

The martial spirit pervading the country, penetrated even the seats 
of learning. The young men of the institution, formed a military 
company, under the designation of the Marti-mercurian Band, a 
name descriptive of the union of the soldier and scholar in its ranks. 
Mr. Heywood was ensign of this corps, on the nineteenth of April, 
1775, and, with some of his comrades, participated in the perils of 
that memorable day. Amid the tumult of arms, the quiet pursuits 
of literature were suspended ; the students were dismissed, and the 
halls occupied by troops. The senior class, of which Mr. Heywood 
was member, did not again return to the seminary, although their 
degrees were conferred in course. 

Mr. Heywood immediately entered the service of his country, and 
received the commission of Lieutenant, in May, 1775. In 1776, he 
was promoted to the rank of Captain, which he retained through the 
whole war. His habits of order and accuracy qualified him for the 
office of paymaster, to which he was soon appointed and attached 
to Col. Nixon's regiment. 1 He was at the capture of Burgoyne, par- 
took of the sufferings, and shared in the victories of the army, during 
the long period of its service. When the soldiers were about to be 
disbanded, a dangerous state of feeling arose. The tedious post- 
ponement of payments meritoriously earned, the pressure of want, 
and the anticipation of future poverty, excited discontents, artfully 
fomented by inflammatory publications. Gen. Washington, apprehen- 
sive of serious violence from exasperated troops feeling the injustice 
of the country and conscious of the power of numbers, discipline and 
arms, to avenge, if not redress, the real or supposed wrongs, con- 
vened an assembly of the officers, addressed them on the disastrous 
consequences of the course to which they had been directed, and 
left them to their deliberations. Gen. Knox, Col. Brooks, and Capt. 
Heywood, were appointed a committee, to consider and recommend 
proper measures to be adopted in the impending crisis. By their 
prudence and energy, the rising disorders were quieted. 

Another proof of the confidence of his companions in arms in the 
honor and capacity of Capt. Heywood, was his election on a commit- 

> The entire series of rolls and accounts of his office, preserved in the Am. Ant. Soci- 
ety's Collections, afford proof of his fidelity in this trust. 



HON. JOSEPH ALLEN. 285 

tee to adjust the acounts of the officers and soldiers of the Massachu- 
setts line. He was associated with Major Fernald, Capt. Hull, and 
Capt. Learned. The duty of the committee led to long negociation 
with the Legislature of the state, resulted in provision for equitable 
settlement, and was concluded by voluminous reports, prepared by 
Capt. Heywood. 

When the army was disbanded, he was retained, for some month?, 
in the office of the General Superintendent, and afforded valuable 
aid in arranging the complicated concerns of the department char- 
ged with the settlement of the affairs of the war. 

After the restoration of peace, he returned to his home, and mar- 
ried an adopted daughter of Mr. Nathaniel Moore, an early settler 
and respectable farmer of Worcester. Activity of disposition, and 
facility in business, enabled him, in addition to the management 
of a farm, to devote much time to the concerns of his neighbors, and 
to public affairs. The reliance on his integrity and good judgment, 
was testified by frequent selection as arbitrator, executor, and guar- 
dian. In 1S02, he was appointed Judge of the Court of Common 
Pleas, and held that office until Sept. 1811, when, by anew ar- 
rangement of the judicial system, the seats of all the judges of that 
tribunal were vacated. For many years he was an acting magistrate 
of the county, and member of the Board of Trustees of Leicester 
Academy. He was twice chosen an elector of President and Vice 
President of the United States. By the General Court, he was ap- 
pointed Trustee of the Hassanameset Indians : and was an officer 
of many charitable and religious associations. 

He died Dec. 6, 1816, aged 71, leaving the reputation of unstain- 
ed integrity and extensive usefulness. 1 

Hon. Joseph Allen, a native of Boston, was born Sept. 2, 
1749. 2 Attending through the regular term of seven years, from 
the age of seven to that of fourteen, on the Grammar School, he 

1 These facts have been derived from the venerable Dr. Bancroft, to whom the men of 
Worcester have been indebted for many an obituary memorial of their fathers. The no- 
tices of our distinguished citizens from his pen, have been remarkable for felicitous 
expressions, fidelity, accurate discrimination, and all the excellences of biography. 

Benjamin Heywood married Mehitable Goddard, d. of Elisha Goddard of Sutton. 
Their children were, 1. Mehitable: 2. Nathaniel Moore, merchant, b. July, 1788: m. Car- 
oline Sumner of Boston, Sept. 16, 181G ; died at Richmond, Va: 3. Elizabeth: 4. Ben- 
jamin Franklin, physician in Worcester; m. Nancy Green, d. of Doct. John Green of 
Worcester : 5. Joseph : 6. Lucy; b. April, 1796; d. Nov. 1796 : 7 Nancy; b. Feb. 
7,1798; d. Aug. 30, 1814. 

2 His father. James Allen, a merchant of Boston, married the sister of Samuel Adams 



Og(3 HON. JOSEPH ALLEN. 

was a favorite pupil of the celebrated master Lovell. About 1770, 
after reo-ular mercantile apprenticeship, he entered into business in 
Leicester. A firm whig, he was active in the preliminary move- 
ments of the revolution, and with Col. William Henshaw, Col. 
Thomas Denny, and other patriotic citizens of the place of his res- 
idence, drafted, circulated, and supported, the spirited resolutions, 
memorials, and addresses of the citizens in their primary meetings, 
and conventions. 1 Soon after the change of the government he was 
appointed, in 1776. to succeed Levi Lincoln, sen. as Clerk of the 
Courts, and removed to Worcester. The duties of this office he 
discharged for thirty three years with singular accuracy and fidelity. 
It was relinquished in 1810, against the wishes of the judicial offi- 
cers. He occasionally accepted those public honors conferred as 
testimonials of esteem and confidence. On the death of Mr. Up- 
ham, he was chosen Representative to the 11th Congress, and at 
the expiration of the term declined reelection. From 1815 to 1818, 
he was of the Executive Council : and twice of the College of 
Electors of President. One of the founders and patrons of Lei- 
cester Academy, he was long Treasurer of the corporation, and was 
first President of the Worcester County Bible Society. ' His mind 
and manners,' writes one of the best of our portrait painters of 
character, ' were alike formed on the best models ; in addition to 
his classical attainments he was distinguished for that politeness and 
gracefulness of deportment, which was, in some degree, peculiar to 
the men of his generation. Through his whole course, strict integ- 
rity, unblemished honor, and undisguised detestation of whatever 

1 A little circumstance, illustrative of the influence of the unsettled condition of the 
times on the relations of private life, is related. At one time, Mr. Allen had his knap- 
sack packed with the soldier's blanket, and his trunk with his nuptial suit, uncertain 
whether he should be earliest called to the bridal or the battle. 

2 The following example may serve as illustration of his honorable sense of integrity f 
more scupulous than is usually found among men. In the negocialion of business, Mr. 
Allen had become indebted to John Smith, 2d Lieutenant of Capt. Bigelow's company 
of Minute men. The account was deliberately adjusted, the balance carefully ascer- 
tained to the mutual satisfaction of both parties, payment made, and full and ample 
discharges given. Some years after, when Smith was passing through town, he was 
met by Mr. Allen, who informed him that he had then recently discovered an error in the 
settlement favorable to himself, which he desired to correct by a further payment. The 
creditor, declaring his entire satisfaction with the former computation, and his conviction 
that no mistake could have occurred, declined an examination. With reluctance he was 
induced to review the accounts, and on revision, still expressed content. Mr. Allen 
then explained to him, by reference to the scale of depreciation, that he had received a 
less amount than he was entitled to have, and delivered to him the sum of money, which 
he long refused to believe he had lost on the original liquidation. 



ISAIAH THOMAS. 2S7 

was base and unworthy, were predominant traits in his character. 
A native generosity of disposition prompted him to deeds of benefi- 
cence. He was familiar with the best English writers, and had 
stored his mind with their beauties, which his refined and discrim- 
inating taste taught him to appreciate with singular accuracy and 
apply with the happiest effect.' He died Sept. 2, 1827, aged 78. 

Isaiah Thomas, 1 a native of Boston, was the descendant of an- 
cestors of good repute, emigrating from England, soon after the 
foundation of the town, and engaging in mercantile business. His 
father, Moses Thomas, 2 soldier, mariner, trader, and farmer, at dif- 
ferent periods, after sharing and escaping the perils of the unfortu- 
nate expedition against Cuba, in 1740, when pestilence destroyed 
most of the provincial forces spared by the sword, lived a few years 
dii Long Island. Revisiting his early home, reverses of fortune 
wasted his share of a good inheritance. Driven abroad, he died in 
North Carolina, about 1752, leaving a widow in destitute condition 
with five small children. The energy and fertility of invention, so 
jften manifested by females in similar circumstances, soon provided 
•esources for the support of her family. The profits of a little shop, 
idded to the other gains of industry and ingenuity, and the savino-s 
)f frugal thrift, afforded comparative comfort aud independence. 
3he was, at length, able to purchase a small estate in Cambridge 
ifterwards lost, on sale, by the depreciation of the continental cur- 
ency. 3 
The youngest son, Isaiah, was born Jan. 19, 1749; at the age of 

1 In the History of Printing, i. 368, is a narrative of the life of Mr. Thomas from his 
vm pen. In the Massachusetts Spy, April 13, 1831, arc published portions of an ad- 
ress, containing beautiful delineation of his character, delivered by Isaac Goodwin 
]sq. before the American Antiquarian Society, and transferred to the 2d volume of 
leir Transactions. The first writer was under the restraints imposed on «he autobiog- 
apher;the last, felt those resting on the public speaker. Neither space nor ability permit 
le attempt here, to do justice to the services of one of our most eminent citizens. The 
uty of rasing worthy memorial, remains for more fortunate hands. The materials of 
le notice of Mr. Thomas in these pages, are taken from the memoirs before mentioned, 
lie few facts which have been added, are slated on the authority of his personal relation, 
rere obtained from the diaries of interleaved almanacs, or are derived from official 
apers. 

2 The earliest of the name, mentioned by John Farmer, the most faithful and accu- 
ite of the antiquarians of the age, in his Register of the First Settlers, is Evan Thom- 
s, vinter, of Boston, admitted freeman in 1641, who died Aug. 25, 1661. George Thom- 
s,and Rebecca his wife, had three sons: 1. Peter, b. Feb. G, 1682 ; 2. George, b. 
larch 16, 1685 ; 3. Maveric, b. March 19, 1694. Peter, the eldest, was a merchant' in 
loston, and acquired good estate : his children were ; George, Peter, Elias, Moses, men- 
oned in the text, Mary, Mercy, Elizabeth, and William, who lived to mature years. 

3 She married a person named Blackman, and died Jan. 17, 1798, aged 73 years. 



288 ISAIAH THOMAS. 

less than six years, he was bound apprentice to Zechariah Fowle, a 
printer of single sheets, small tracts, and pamphlets, described in 
the History of Printing, as honest, but eccentric, irritable, effemi- 
nate, and better skilled in domestic cares than the mysteries of the 
printing house. It reflects no credit on the sense or taste of the 
master, that the first essay of his almost infant workman, who re- 
quired the elevation of a high bench to reach the case, should have 
been directed to the composition of a licentious ballad. 1 The pu- 
pil, deprived of the usual advantages of schools and of good instruc- 
tion in the art, was compelled to rely on his own resources to supply 
the deficiencies of education. Earnest desire of improvement found 
or made the way. A tattered dictionary and ink stained bible were 
the whole library of the office. Two or three books, purchased with 
the savings of trifling perquisites, and a kw more borrowed from 
friends, were added to this slender collection of literature. Diligent 
study and persevering assiduity, enabled him, unassisted, to possess 
himself of the elementary branches of learning, and to acquire such 
facility of expression as to be able to put his thoughts in type with- 
out the aid of writing, and the expertness in printing which made 
him principal manager of a business extended under his supervis- 
ion. After eleven years of apprenticeship and employment with 
Fowle, Mr. Thomas went to Nova Scotia and entered the office of 
Anthony Henry, proprietor of the Halifax Gazette, the government 
paper, a good humored and indolent man. The willing assistant 
was allowed to assume the management. Although Henry's labors 
were diminished, his responsibilities directly increased. It was the 
period of the Stamp Act, and the Boston boy brought with him the 
spirit kindled in his birth place. The appearance of an article in 
opposition to the obnoxious measure which roused the colonies to 
resistance, was followed by citation before the authorities, and Hen- 
ry escaped punishment, only on the ground that the paragraph had 
been inserted by his journeyman without his knowledge. On the 
repetition of the offence, the young man himself was called before 
the Secretary of the Province, and received reprimand, admonition, 
and threats, alike ineffectual. Not long after this interview, the 
whole year's stock of paper arrived from England, stamped accor- 
ding to the act : by night, the brand of oppression was cut off from 

i The composing stick first used by Mr. Thomas, an impression of ' The Lawyer's 
Pedigree/ and the very press upon which it was worked, which afterwards sent out the 
glowing words of the patriots of the Revolution, were given to the Antiquarian Socie- 
ty by its founder, and have been scrupulously preserved, in accordance with his wishes. 



ISAIAH THOMAS. 239 

the sheets : the effigy of the commissioner appointed to collect the 
impost, was found suspended from the gallows. The very correct 
opinion prevailed, that Mr. Thomas was principal in these and oth- 
er acts of defiance of government. The sheriff, sent for the purpose 
of intimidating the young printer by threats, or extorting confes- 
sions, was met with so much firmness and intrepidity, that the fruit- 
less mission was abandoned. l 

In March, 1TG7, Mr. Thomas went from Nova Scotia to Ports- 
mouth in New Hampshire, and four months afterwards, returned to 
the employment of Fowle in Boston. Active and enterprising spirit 
led him to accept the invitation of a ship master to try the fortune 
of a voyage to Wilmington in North Carolina. Negotiations for an 
establishment there were frustrated, and he embarked for the West 
Indies, intending to seek passage thence to London. Again his ex- 
pectations were defeated, and he repaired to Charleston in South 
Carolina. After a residence of two years, with impaired health, he 
retraced his steps, and came again to the home of his fathers. En- 
tering into partnership with Zechariah Fowle, they published a little 
newspaper, discontinued in December of the same year. The con- 
nection was of brief duration. In was dissolved in three months, 
and Mr. Thomas, having purchased the printing apparatus, issued 
another paper, bearing the name of its predecessor, ' The Massachu- 
setts Spy,' March 7, 1771. The early professions of neutrality in 
the great contest then impending, could not long be maintained 
against the decided inclination of the conductor to the popular cause, 
and the print soon became the leading advocate of whig principles. 
Managed with great ability, in some departments, by Mr. Thomas 
himself, the strongest of the patriot writers gave the power of their 
pens to its support, and the Spy became the favorite channel for the 
diffusion of high toned sentiment. Its influence was felt and feared 
by the royalists, and they endeavored to avert the danger of a free 
press. Overtures to the editor, with promises of honors, office, 

1 The Philadelphia Journal arrived, dressed with mourning pages ; decorated with 
death's heads, crossed bones, and other emblems of mortality ; and announcing its own 
decease, by a complaint called the Stamp Act. To imitate this patriotic typography re- 
quired no little boldness. It was done by Mr. Thomas, with equal courage and adroit- 
ness. The columns of the Halifax Gazette were surrounded with heavy black lines: 
the title was surmounted by the skull ; a death's head placed as substitute for stamp ; 
and a large figure of a coffin laid at the end of the last page ; accompanied by the fol- 
lowing notice: * We are desired, by a number of our readers, to give a description of 
the extraordinary appearance of the Pennsylvania Journal of the 30th of October f 1765.1 
We can in no better way comply witfa this request, than by the exemplification we have 
given of that Journal in *h;s day .v Gazette.' 

37 



290 ISAIAH THOMAS. 

patronage, and reward, on espousing the cause of government, were 
rejected, and threats of vengeance for resistance, disregarded. A 
man too independent to be bought by gain or controlled by power, 
must be crushed. The debt contracted for the purchase of the es- 
tablishment was suddenly and sternly demanded : the aid of friends 
discharged the sum and defeated the attempt to ruin by pecuniary 
pressure. The publication of a bold essay, written by Joseph Green- 
leaf, with the signature of Mucius Scaevola, afforded pretext for 
fresh persecution. Mr. Thomas was summoned to appear before 
the Governor and Council. Obedience to the executive mandate, 
three times repeated, was as often fearlessly refused. Hutchinson 
was too good lawyer to issue process for compulsion, where no au- 
thority existed for its execution. The punishment of the offender, 
was entrusted to the judical arm, and the Attorney General direc- 
ted to institute prosecution for libel. Indictment and information, 
though pushed forward by the united efforts of the officers of the 
crown, alike failed. The Spy held on its way, vindicating the lib- 
erty of the press and of the citizen, against ministerial usurpation. 
Renewed attempts at coertion, only served to call forth testimonials 
of the ardent interest felt by the leading men of the times for the 
welfare of the establishment, and pledges of protection and defence. x 
Such course, rendered Mr. Thomas obnoxious to the administra- 
tion. His name was placed on the list of the suspected : his prin- 
ting house received the honorary appellation of ' sedition factory/ 
and threats of personal violence were frequent in the mouths of 
the soldiery. Having been solicited by the whigs of Worcester, to 
establish a newspaper, he made contracts and sent out proposals for 
subscriptions in February, 1775 ; and with the assistance of Col. Big- 
elow, under the care of Gen. Warren, he privately conveyed a press 
and cases of types, over the river to Charlestown, thence transported 
to this town, a short time previous to the Lexington Fight. The 
movements of the British troops for an expedition into the country, 
beino - discovered, Mr. Thomas was active in spreading the alarm, and 
at day break of the memorable 19th of April, joined the militia in 
arms against the ' regulars.' Laying aside the musket after the light, 
to put in action a more powerful engine of freedom, and journeying 
almost all the next night, he reached Worcester the following day. 
The first printing done in any inland town of New England, was 

1 It is stated, by Mr. Goodwin, that the celebrated James Otis, ' then withdrawn from 
active life in consequence of the malady which prostrated the energies of his mighty 
mind,' proffered his professional services to Mr. Thomas. 



ISAIAH THOMAS. 291 

performed in Worcester. The Spy reappeared, after a suspension of 
three weeks, May 3, 1775, and was distributed by posts and mes- 
sengers. The publications of the Provincial Congress were execu- 
ted here, until presses were put in operation in Cambridge and Con- 
cord, the places of its session. 

Although the acquisitions of five years toil had been abandoned to 
be plundered, with the exception of the little remnant saved by the 
fortunate arrangements of early removal, the better capital of indus- 
try, capacity, and enterprise, was undiminished, and was brought in- 
to full exertion. He was appointed Postmaster, by Benjamin Frank- 
lin, Sept. 25, 1775, and the commission was renewed for triennial 
terms, by Ebenezer Hazard, Samuel Osgood, Timothy Pickering, 
and Joseph Habersham, the heads of the department in succeeding 
years. In 177C, having leased his property to Messrs. Bigelow and 
Stearns, and afterwards to Anthony Haswell, he went to Salem. 
While on a visit here, the declaration of independence was received, 
and first read to the citizens, by Mr. Thomas, July 14, 1776, from 
the porch of the Old South Church. Returning for permanent res- 
idence, in 1778, he resumed the management of the Spy. At that 
period, trade was disordered ; in the fluctuating currency, the repre- 
sentative paper had no constituent specie ; manufactures were in 
infancy ; materials were deficient ; difficulties sprang up on all sides ; 
and the print was only sustained through the war, by the unyielding 
resolution of the proprietor. 1 The restoration of peace opened the 
channels of commerce ; new types and apparatus were obtained, and 
his business expanded itself on a great scale. Uniting the employ- 
ments of printer, publisher, and bookseller, establishing the first 
bindery and building the second paper mill in the county, the re- 
lations of a business which may well be called vast, as they extend- 
ed to almost every part of the union, were conducted with that sys- 
tematic and methodical arrangement which gave successful action 
to the complex machinery. At one period, under his own personal 
direction and that of his partners, sixteen presses were in constant 
motion, seven of them working here; three weekly newspapers and 

1 ' In the indulgence of a peculiar poetical fancy bis papers were generally ornament- 
ed with curiously significant devices and appropriate mottos. In 1774, they bore a dra- 
gon and a snake, the former representing Great Britain, and the serpent this country. 
The latter was separated into parts to represent the different colonies. The head and 
tail were furnished with slings for defence against the dragon, which was placed in the 
posture of making attack. The device extended the whole width of the paper, with 
the motto over the serpent, in large capitals, Join or die.' Goodwin's Memoir in Mass, 
Spy, April 13,1831. 



292 ISAIAH THOMAS. 

one monthly magazine, issued : and five bookstores in Massachu- 
setts, one in New Hampshire, one in New York, and one in Mary- 
land, almost supplied the literary sustenance of the community. One 
of the most liberal publishers of the age, he produced and distribut- 
ed works, whose titles formed a voluminous annual catalogue. The 
great folio edition of the bible in 1791, illustrated with the copper- 
plates of native artists, was unrivalled, at the period, for neatness, ac- 
curacy, and general elegance and excellence of execution ; the whole 
types for smaller copies of the Holy Scriptures were kept standing 
and often used. 

Previous to the revolution, Mr. Thomas commenced the Essex 
Gazette, at Newburyport, in 1773; in January of the next year, he 
began the Royal American Magazine, the last of the periodicals of 
Boston under the provincial governors. After the war, in 1793, he 
founded the Farmer's Museum, enlivened with the spirit of Prentiss, 
Dennie, Fessenden and the coterie of wits gathered at Walpole, 
N. H. ; established the Farmer's Journal in Brookfield, Mass. in 
1799; in connection with Ebenezer T. Andrews, junior partner of 
a house existing thirty one years, he printed the Massachusetts Mag- 
azine, in Boston, from 1783 to 1795. The Spy was suspended, in 
consequence of the resemblance of an Excise Act to the Stamp du- 
ty, for two years. The Worcester Magazine, in 1787, and 1788, 
supplied the place of that paper. Mr. Thomas was partner of Dr. 
Joseph Trumbull, in the business of druggist in this town for some 
time after Aug. 31, 1760. 

In 1802, Mr. Thomas relinquished a prosperous business at Wor- 
cester, to his son Isaiah, and retired from the pressing cares of wide 
concerns to the enjoyment of fortune honorably won and liberally 
used. 

The evening twilight of a day of intense activity was not given 
to the repose of idleness. Enjoying personal acquaintance with 
some of the early conductors of the press in this country, familiar 
by their narrations with their predecessors, himself a prominent 
actor through an important period, greater advantages could not 
have been desired for the undertaking, on which he entered, of com- 
piling the annals of American typography. 'The History of Print- 
ing,' published in 1810, in two octavo volumes, bears internal evi- 
dence, in the fulness and fidelity of its narrative, that neither toil, 
research, nor money was spared for its preparation. Containing 
notices of the antiquities and progress of the art, the biography of 
printers and newspapers, the work received the approbation of criti- 



ISAIAH THOMAS. -93 

cism, and the rank of standard authority. While this good enter- 
prise advanced, Mr. Thomas had gathered rare treasures of litera- 
ture and rich relics of the past. Collected, they were of inestima- 
ble value : each fragment, if dispersed, would have been desirable, 
but less precious than if fixed in its place, as a connecting link of the 
chain of events. With an elevated benevolence, contemplating in 
expanded view, all the good the present may bestow on the future, 
he associated others with himself, and became the founder of the 
American Antiquarian Society. The gift of his great collections 
and library, the donation of land, and of a spacious edifice, an un- 
ceasing flow of bounty in continuous succession of benefactions, 
and ample bequests for the perpetuation and extension of the bene- 
fits he designed to confer on the public and posterity, are enduring 
testimonials of enlightened liberality. The institution will remain, 
an imperishable monument to his memory, when the very materials 
of the hall reared by his generosity shall have crumbled. 

While his private charity relieved the distresses, his public muni- 
ficence promoted the improvements of the town. The site of the 
County Court House was bestowed by him ; and the building and 
avenues on the front constructed under his uncompensated direction. 
No inconsiderable share of the cost of enlarging the square at the 
north end of Main Street, and erecting the stone bridge, was given 
by him. The street bearing his own name, and the spot where the 
brick school house has been built, were his benefaction to the mu- 
nicipal corporation. In the location and execution of the Boston 
and Worcester Turnpike, an enterprise of much utility at the pe- 
riod, he assisted by personal exertion and pecuniary contribution, 
and few local works for the common good were accomplished with- 
out the aid of his purse or efforts. 

In 1814, he received the honorary degree of Master of Arts from 
Darmouth College : that of Doctor of Laws was conferred by Al- 
leghany College in 1818. He was member of the Historical So- 
cieties of Massachusetts and New York, and of numerous Philoso- 
phical, Humane, Charitable, and Typographic associations. The 
appointment of Justice of the Court of Sessions was made by Gov. 
Gerry, Feb. 21, 1812: the office was held until June 7, 1814^ 
when it was resigned. He was President of the Antiquarian So- 
ciety from its foundation to his decease, April 4, 1831, at the age 
of 82 years. 

While the institution of Freemasonry was prosperous, Dr. Thom- 
as attained its highest honors and degrees, and was long presiding 



294 PUBLIC OFFICERS. 

officer of the Grand Lodge and Chapter of Massachusetts. He at- 
tended and bore part in most of the consecrations, installations, and 
high festivals of the association in the state, during his active years. 
The incidents of the life of Dr. Thomas have occupied broad space 
in these poor annals. His memory will be kept green when the re- 
collection of our other eminent citizens shall have faded in oblivion. 
His reputation in future time will rest, as a patriot, on the manly in- 
dependence which gave, through the initiatory stages and progress of 
the revolution, the strong influence of the press he directed to the 
cause of freedom, when royal flattery and favor would have seduc- 
ed, and the power of government subdued its action; as an antiqua- 
rian, on the minuteness and fidelity of research in the History of 
Printing ; as a philanthropist, on the foundation and support of a 
great national society, whose usefulness, with the blessing of Provi- 
dence, will increase through distant centuries. 1 



There have resided in Worcester, eighteen settled Clergymen : 
two Barristers : sixty four Counsellors and Attorneys at Law : and 
thirty one Physicians. Fifty-nine of the natives of the town have 
received education in the colleges. Of those born here, fifteen 
Physicians, twelve lawyers, and ten Clergymen, have gone out to 
other places of settlement and professional employment. 

1 Moses Thomas, father of Dr. Isaiah Thomas, married Fidelity Grant of Rhode- 
Island : Their children were: 1. Elizabeth, born on Long Island, who man ied and 
went to the West Indies : 2. Peter, who resided at Hampslead, L. I. 3. Joshua, b. 
at Boston, March 3, 1745 5 m. Mary Twing of Brighton, and resided in Lancaster: 
4. Susannah, married four times: last to Capt. Hugh McCullough, of Philadelphia: 
surviving him, she died Feb. 23, 1815, a. G9: 5. Isaiah, b. Jan. 19, 1749. 

Dr. Isaiah Thomas, married Mary, d. of Joseph Dill, of the Isle of Bermuda, Dec. 
25, 1769 : Their children were, Mary Anne, b. March 27, 1772: was three times mar- 
ried ; last to Dr. Levi Simmons : 2. Isaiah, b. at Boston, Sept. 5, 1773 ; m. Mary 
d. of Edward Weld of Boston: he was educated as a printer, and succeeded his 
father in business ; he removed to Boston, where he died, June 25, 1819, His chil- 
dren were : 1. Mary Rebecca, m. Pliny Merrick, Esq. of Worcester : 2. Frances 
Church, b. Aug. 12, 1800 ; m. William A. Crocker of Taunton. 3. Augusta Weld, b. 
Aug.l, 1801 ; d. Aug. 19, 1822, at Taunton: 4. Caroline, b. Sept. 26, 1802; m. to 
Samuel L. Crocker of Taunton. 5. Hannah Weld, m. June 14, 1825, to Samuel L. 
Crocker of Taunton ; d. November 22,1827; 6. Isaiah, b. Dec. 11, 1804; d. Oct. 
14,1805: 7. Isaiah, merchant in New York : 8. William, merchant in Boston: 9. 
Edward Weld, b. Feb. 15, 1810: d. Oct. 5, 1810 : 10. Edward Isaiah, merchant in 
New York : 11. Benjamin Franklin, lawyer in Worcester. 

Dr. Thomas was married a second time to Mrs. Mary Fowle, d. of William Thomas 
of Boston, b. June 9, 1751 ; d. Nov. 16, 1818, aged 67 : and again married, Aug. 10, 
1819, to Miss Rebecca Armstrong of Roxbury. 



PUBLIC OFFICERS. 295 

Worcester has furnished good proportion of those who have held 
civil and judicial offices. 

Of the natives or citizens of the town, previous to the war of in- 
dependence, were : one Attorney General of the Province : three 
members of His Majesty's Council : one Mandamus Councillor : 
three Judges of the Court of Common Pleas : two Judges of Pro- 
bate : three Clerks of the Courts : four Treasurers and four Sheriffs 
of the County : one Judge of the Supreme Court of New Bruns- 
wick : one Councillor, and one Clerk of the Assembly of that Pro- 
vince. 

Since the Revolution there have been ; two Governors of Mas- 
sachusetts and one Governor of Maine : two Lieutenant Governors : 
two Speakers of the House of Representatives : six Councillors and 
eleven Senators of Massachusetts : two Senators of New Hamp- 
shire : one Secretary of the Commonwealth : one Treasurer of New 
York : one Attorney General of the United States : one acting Se- 
cretary of State : one Senator and eleven Representatives in Con- 
gress : one elected member of Congress under the Confederation : 
one appointed Judge of the Supreme Court of the United States who 
declined the commission : one Judge of the Supreme Court of Mas- 
sachusetts : three Justices of the Court of Common Pleas of this 
state and one of Alabama : three Judges of Probate and one Judge 
of the Orphan's Court of Alabama : two Justices of the Court of 
Sessions : two County Commissioners : eight Clerks of the Courts 
and eight County Attorneys : one District Attorney ; two Sheriffs 
and three Treasurers of the County : five Justices throughout the 
Commonwealth ; thirty-eight Justices of the Quorum ; and eighty- 
one Justices of the Peace. 1 

1 This estimate of the offices of the worthies of Worcester, accurate so far as it ex- 
tends, is necessarily imperfect. Many emigrants from this town, who have held honor- 
able stations in other states, have not been included in the enumeration. 

Of those natives of the town, not educated in the colleges, who emigrated, and 
practised as Physicians, before unmentioned, were: Samuel Rice of Alhol, son of 
Samuel Rice: William Young of Ipswich,son of William Young: Jacob Holmes 
of Leicester, son of Jacob Holmes : William Barber of Mason, N. H. son of James 
Barber : and James McFarland of Rutland, son of James McFarland. 



296 



STATISTICS AND HISTORY. 



CHAPTER XV. 

Education. Common Schools. Centre District Schools. Private Instruction. Man- 
ual Labor High School. Mount St. James Seminary. 

When the original committee of settlement secured the support 
of the worship of God, they made provision for the education of 
youth. At their first meeting, in 1609, when the untrodden wilder- 
ness spread over the territory of Worcester, it was agreed that a 
lot of land should be ' appropriated for the maintenance of a school 
and school master, to remain for that use for ever.' In the contract 
with Daniel Henchman, in 1084, this determination was affirmed; 
and it was enjoined, ' that care be taken to provide a schoolmaster 
in due season.' When surveys were made, after the permanent set- 
tlement, a tract of forty acres was granted for the promotion of this 
object. 

The circumstances of the first planters long prevented the com- 
mencement of public instruction. The earliest municipal action 
on the subject, was April 4, 1726. In pursuance of a vote of the 
town, ' the selectmen agreed with Mr. Jonas Rice to be schoolmas- 
ter, and to teach such children and youth as any of the inhabitants 
shall send to him to read and write, as the law directs,' 1 until the 
loth of December. On the expiration of this term, it was pe- 
remptorily voted ' that the town will not have a school.' The pe- 
riod succeeding the commencement of the last century has been well 

1 The Great and General Court of the Colony, in May 1647, stating as inducement, 
that, ' It being one chief project of Satan to keep men from the knowledge of the 
Scriptures, as in former times keeping them in unknown tongues, so, in these latter times, 
by persuading from the use of tongues, that so at least the true sense and meaning of 
the original might be clouded and corrupted with false glosses of deceivers : to the end 
that learning may not be buried in the graves of our forefathers, in church and com- 
monwealth, the Lord assisting our endeavors,' ordered that every township within the 
jurisdiction ' after the Lord hath increased them to the number of fifty householders' 
should maintain a common school, and each town of 100 families should keep a gram- 
mar school. A penalty for neglect of these wholesome provisions, for quaint reasons, 
was established in 1671, increased by the statute of October, 1683. 



SCHOOLS. 297 

lescribed by one of the most discriminating of our local antiquari- 
.ns, 1 as the 'dark age' of Massachusetts. Every hand was busy 
n converting the forest into farms. A fluctuating currency scarcely 
erved for the supply of the necessities of life. The planters of 
Vorcester, feeling the burden of sustaining elementary education 
without immediately realising the resulting benefits, failed to give 
iractical operation to the enlightened views of the founders. In this 
espect they could have shown the example of elder and more weal- 
hy neighbors in extenuation of the negligence. Few towns about 
hat time, escaped fine for contempt of wholesome laws. The grand 
ury admonished Worcester of its omissions of duty by present- 
ment, and the sum of £'2 8s. Gd. was raised in 1728, to defray the 
barges of a prosecution, for want of schools, suspended oh promises 
f amendment. Benjamin Flagg, directly after, was employed as 
choolmaster. andi£14 granted for the annual stipend. In April, 
731, considering ' that many small children cannot attend in the cen- 
re of the town by reason of the remoteness of their dwelling places, 
nd to the intent that all may have the benefit of education,' districts 
rere formed. Division lines, drawn from the middle of each exte- 
ior boundary, separated the town into north, south, east and west 
uarters, surrounding the central territory. The mild sway and 
heap services of females were sought, and the selectmen instructed, 
to procure a suitable number of school dames, not exceeding five, 
Dr the teaching of small children to read, to be placed in the scver- 
1 parts, as may be most convenient, and these gentlewomen to be 
aid such sum, by the head, as they may agree.' The terror of the 
iw, in September following, produced a vote, ' to maintain a free 
chool for a year, and to be a moving school into the several quar- 
srs.' In August, 1732, Mr. Richard Rogers was engaged as teach- 
r, and continued in that relation about eight years. The instruc- 
ar of those days was migratory, revolving in his circuit round a cen- 
re not then fixed to a particular location. Directions similar to this 
f 1735, abound ; ' Voted, that Mr. Richard Rogers repair to the 
louse of Mr. Palmer Goulding, there to keep school till further or- 
!ers ' The inconvenience of temporary arrangements, induced the 
nhabitants, after long consideration and debate, and great doubt of 
he expediency of the measure, to resolve, May 15, L735, ' that a 
chool house be built at the ch.irge of the town, and placed in the 
entre of the south half, or as near as may be with conveniency, 
tavins regard to suitable ground for such a house to stand on, where 

1 Lemuel Shattuck, Esq. in the History of Concord. 

38 



298 schools. 

land may be purchased, in case it falls on any particular property, 
provided the purchase may be made on reasonable terms.' The sur- 
veys of Col. John Chandler, commissioned to,measure under these 
instructions, and afterwards employed with new directions to find 
the intersection of a central line with the country road, not having 
indicated acceptable points, after five years of deliberation, it was de- 
termined to ' set up ' the first school house of Worcester ' between 
the Court House and bridge, below the fulling mill.' An humble 
edifice was reared at the north end of Main street, and nearly in the 
middle of the present travelled way, 24 feet long, 10 feet wide, and 
with posts 7 feet high, which remained beyond the close of the rev- 
olutionary war. In 1740, o£400 was granted for the support of 
schools, one half to be appropriated for the centre, and the other half 
divided among the quarters, ' provided the body of the town keep a 
grammar school the whole year, and save the town from present- 
ment, and the skirts do in the whole have twelve months schooling 
of a writing master.' 

It had been well and wisely ordered by the fathers of New Eng- 
land, that each municipal community of sufficient ability, should af- 
ford to youth the means of acquiring the languages. The salutary 
effect of this regulation was little appreciated, and was even regard- 
ed as oppressive, in times less enlightened than the present. In 
176G, the representative was instructed to endeavor, ' that the law 
requiring a Latin Grammar School, be repealed, and that not more 
than one such school should be kept in a county,' and, in 1767, to 
use his exertion to relieve the people from the great burden of sup- 
porting so many schools of this description, ' whereby they are pre- 
vented from attaining such degree of English learning as is necessa- 
ry to retain the freedom of any state.' 

The lower schools seem to have been sustained by liberal appro- 
priations. In 1769, there were eight districts; the apportionment 
of the tax of £19 17s. in that year throws some light on the popu- 
lation and resources of the divisions. 

Old Names. 

Centre, 

Tatnick, 

Bogachoag, 

Smith's, 

The sums raised by taxation for schools in different years, varied 
with the fluctuations of the currency to such extent that it is difficult 
to estimate accurately the real amount of expenditure. In 1727, the 



Sums. 


Old Names. 


Sums. 


£19 Is. 


Stone's, 


£8 5s. 


10 10 


Stowell's, 


S 3 


8 8 


Curtis's, 


7 11 


9 8 


Flagg's, 


7 11 



schools. 299 

ax was £ 16 10s.: in 1730, =£25: in 1740, £ 100 currency : in 1750, 
£46 10s; in 1760, <£ 75: in 1780, £76 16s: in 1770, £ 3000 in 
lontipental bills. 

It is not possible now to collect a perfect list of the school mas* 
ers previous to the revolution. The figures prefixed to the names 
)f the gentlemen mentioned below, show the time when their in- 
struction commenced. 1725, Jonas Rice. 1729, Benjamin Flagg. 
1732, James Wyman, Richard Rogers. 1733, Samuel Boutelle, 
Nathaniel Williams. 1738, Samuel Marsh. 1730, James Durant. 
1744, James Varney. 1752, Henry Gardner. 1755, John Adams. 1 
1757, John Young. 1758, William Crawford. 1760, Micah Law- 
rence. 

After the revolution, in 1785 and 1788, the town was presented by 
;he grand jury for the neglect of its grammar school, and when it 
ivas maintained, it appears to have travelled around the centre, in 
:he circle of districts, until 1808, when it became stationary. 

In 1800, school houses were built in the several districts under 
:he direction of a committee. The following table shows the di- 
mensions, position, and cost of each. 



Old names. 

Tatnick Quarter, 


New names. 

2, 


Feet square. 

25, 


Expense. 

$270 27 


Jones's, 


3, 


24, 


270 27 


Burbank's, 


5, 


22, 


247 75 


Baird's, 


6, 


22, 


247 75 


Gates's, 


7, 


20, 


225 22 


Fisk's Corner, 


s, 


22, 


247^,75 


Burntcoat Plain, 


9, 


22, 


247 75 


Thaxter's, 


10, 


18, 


202 JO 



Provision was made for the erection of two houses, not less than 
22 feet square, in the centre, then containing one third of all the 
minors : one was built at the corner of the old burial place, and the 
other opposite to the building then the Unitarian Church, now the 
Franklin House. 

Prudent and able committees have been elected annually by the 
town, who have had the supervision and visitation of the common 
schools in the manner directed by the statutes. 

The following statements illustrative of the condition of the schools, 
and the expenses of education, are derived principally from the re- 
turns in the office of the Secretary of the Commonwealth. 

1 Afterwards President of the United States. He was certainly employed on* vortr, 
and probably more, white student at law with James Putnam. 



;}f)t) SCHOOLS. 

1834. 1335. 1836. 

Number of School Districts, 12, 12. 12, 

Number of minors in all the districts, 2509, 2GGG, 0041, 
Males from 4 to 10 attending schools, 075, 622, 570, 

Females, 494, 501, G36, 

Average attendance in days, 924, S59, 1010, 

Number attending private schools, Ul> 100, — 

Winter Schools, months, 96, 100, 88, 

Summer schools, months, 111, 103, 87, 

Instructors, Males, 12, 14, 11, 

Females, instructing, 20, 21, 19, 

Wages, average by months, Winter, 8 17, 8 21, — 

Summer, 8 9*, $ 16*. — 

Board per week, males, 8 2 a, 8 2 £, 8 2, 

Amount raised for schools by tax, 8 5535, 8 5500, 8 G270, 

Expenses for furniture, 8 500, 8 550, 8 550, 

Tuition in private schools, 82028, 8 1500, 81500. 

The monies granted by the town for the support of schools are dis- 
tributed thus : from the whole tax is first deducted the amount as- 
signed for the grammar school : as an equivalent for the school being 
kept within the centre, the other districts receive two hundred and 
fifty dollars, equally divided : the residue of the whole sum is then 
apportioned according to the minors. The mode of distribution will 
be seen from the following table : six columns, after the first, show the 
number of persons under twenty one years of age ; the six last the 
sum given to each district, in the year marked at the top of the 
column. 









Minors. 










Monies. 






No 


.1331. 


1832. 


1833. 


1834. 


1035. 


183o. 


1831. 


1332. 


1833. 


1834. 


1835. 


1336. 


I 


1053 


1164 


1256 


1360 


1524 


1816 


5973 #1012 


$1039 


^1299 


1*402 


51670 


2 


151 


146 


135 


146 


133 


144 


166 


149 


134 


162 


149 


155 


3 


200 


227 


221 


225 


232 


293 


210 


220 


205 


237 


234 


292 


4 


98 


112 


96 


103 


S3 


104 


113 


120 


102 


121 


98 


113 


5 


106 


103 


103 


111 


106 


99 


123 


112 


112 


128 


120 


113 


6 


81 


72 


66 


70 


73 


71 


99 


85 


77 


89 


89 


S3 


7 


66 


78 


73 


84 


112 


101 


86 


83 


83 


102 


125 


115 


8 


138 


83 


102 


104 


98 


93 


133 


99 


107 


121 


112 


108 


9 


95 


75 


31 


75 


72 


90 


95 


88 


89 


94 


88 


105 


in 


02 


59 


59 


55 


65 


42 


62 


74 


71 


79 


82 


61 


11 


64 


61 


55 


59 


55 


59 


50 


76 


63 


79 


73 


77 


12 


— 


59 


104 


117 


108 


129 


2125 


74 


10S 


134 


122 


141 




2108 


2244 


2356 


2509 


2666 3041 


2197 


2195 


2645 


2697 


3043 



CENTRE SCHOOL DISTRICT. 301 

The following gentlemen, among others, have been employed in 
instruction here since the revolution, most of them in the Grammar 
School. 

Dr. Amasa Dingley, who died in New York : Rev. Thaddeus M. 
Harris, long clergyman of Dorchester : Thomas Payson, afterwards 
teacher in Boston, and now of Peterborough, N. II. : Roger Yose, 
counsellor at law in Walpole, N. H. : Silas Paul, sometime in the 
practice of the law in Fitchburg : Andrew Morton, lawyer, who 
died at Hampden, Me : Calvin Park, Professor in Brown University : 
Isaac Gates, afterwards of the United States army: Samuel Swan, 
practising law in Hubbardston: Rev. Nathan Parker, late of Ports- 
mouth, N. II. : Dr. Jacob Bigelow, physician of Boston : Rev. 
John Nelson, of Leicester ; Nathan Guilford, of Lexington, Ken- 
tucky : Ebenezer D. Washburn, of Mobile, Alabama : Levi Iley- 
wood : Rev. Jonathan Going, now of the city of New York : Jona- 
than Smith, now of Bath, N. II. : John Reed, son of John Reed, 
of Worcester: Thomas Fiske, who died at Charleston, S. C. : Ben- 
son C. Baldwin, who died at Milford : Leonard Worcester, late 
teacher in Newark, N. J. : George Folsom, now of New York. 

Charles Thurber, B. U. 1827, son of Rev. Laban Thurber, born 
in Brookfield, the present master of the Latin School, was elect- 
ed to that office, March 27, 18C2. The English School of the Dis- 
trict, is under the charge of Warren Lazell, son of Deacon Daniel 
Lazell, of Mendon, who was chosen as' instructor, Feb. 23, 1828. 
Albion P. Peck, son of Dr. Gustavus D. Peck, of Milford, was elect- 
ed master of the second English School, June 22, 1835. l 

CENTRE SCHOOL DISTRICT. 

One of the earliest steps in the progress of the improvement of 
education in the Centre District, was in 1752, when the town, by 
their votes, consented, ' that the inhabitants of the centre, extend- 
ing one mile and a half around the school house, should have allow- 
ed them their proportion of money for the support of schooling, pro- 
vided they do, bona fide, keeep a grammar school the whole year : 
and if their proportion of money will procure a master more than 
twelve weeks, the usual time they have of late had schooling, then 
any person may have liberty to send children afterwards.' About 

1 The compensation paid to the instructor of the Grammar school, is 5900 : of the Eng- 
lish school $700 ; of the second school $400, annually: of the Apprentices school $32 
monthly: of the Female High school $5, 50 : of die Primary, Infant, and African, schools 
£3,50, by the week : the assistants are paid at the rate of $1 the week. 



302 CENTRE SCHOOL DISTRICT. 

this period, a school house, with two rooms on the floor, was erect- 
ed by James Putman, John Chandler, and other public spirited in- 
dividuals, l and the deficiency of the grants for the support of in- 
struction was supplied by subscriptions. In 17G9, the town gave to 
the proprietors of the grammar school, £6, ' they engaging that the 
school shall be free, for all persons in the town desirous of learning 
the languages.' 

All minor objects gave way to the intense interest and exhausting 
necessities of the revolutionary contest; its stern excitement divert- 
ed attention, and its exigencies absorbed the whole available resourc- 
es of the people : all improvements were neglected ; and education 
sunk low amid political commotion. When peace revisited the land, 
an effort was made for the establishment of a system, perfected in 
after years, which might afford to the children of each citizen good 
and thorough education in their own homes. An association was 
formed for erecting a school of high grade, with the real merits, 
though without the ostentatious name of academy. In 1784, Eli- 
jah Dix, Joseph Allen, Levi Lincoln, Nathan Patch, John Green, 
John Nazro, Palmer Gouldihg, and others, uniting in a joint stock 
company, procured a lease of the land on the west side of Main 
street on which the Centre School House now stands, and that buil- 
dino" was erected in front of the position it now occupies. A con- 
veyance of the lot was obtained, Sept. 29, 1787. The property had 
been divided into 100 shares, and each proprietor, by the terms of 
the deed, was to hold an amount of interest in the estate proportion- 
ate to his contribution for the purchase, under limitations securing 
the appropriation to the purposes of the fund. 

Two schools were opened in the new house by the proprietors ; 
one for the common elementary studies, under Mr. Brown ; the oth- 
er for the highest branches of academic education, called ' The Sem- 
inary,' under the tuition of Mr. Thomas Payson. For a time they 
were sustained with great spirit. The quarterly examinations, with 
the attraction of dramatic exhibitions, were attended by a numerous 
audience. In Aug. 1787, the tragedy of Cato was played by Mr. 
Brown's scholars, with brilliant success ; rivalled by the pupils of the 
seminary, in October following, by the recitation of original orations, 
forensic discussions, poems, and dialogues in Greek and Latin. 

1 This humble one story edifice was placed near the east side of Main street, south 
of the termination of the Boston Rail Road, and surrounded with trees. During the 
revolution, it was converted into a dwelling, and remained, uutil modern improvement 
swept away the ancient house and the venerable elms that embowered its lowly roof. 



CENTRE SCHOOL DISTRICT. 303 

As the children of the subscribers were removed to the colleges, 
or the preparation for professions or active business, the warm in- 
terest of the parents in the institutions declined, and with it the 
schools gradually sunk from the high ground on which they had been 
placed. In May 1799, the building was advertised for sale at pub- 
lic auction, and in July 1801, purchased by the inhabitants of the 
Centre District from its owners, at the cost of 6950, including the 
expense of repairs. 

In the summer of 1823, a vigorous effort was made for the renova- 
tion of the decayed system. Dr. Bancroft, foremost in every good 
word and work, Jonathan Going, earnest and ardent in the promo- 
tion of improvement, Samuel M. Burnside, author of the school 
law of 1827, Levi Lincoln, Otis Corbett, and Samuel Jennison, 
were the framers of that plan, whose successful operation has given 
occasion for just pride in the excellence of the schools of the district. 
These gentlemen, from a committee 'to consider the interesting 
questions regarding the good of our children in the acquisition of 
knowledge,' submitted a report, Aug 22, 1823, published and dis- 
tributed to all the families. They declare their opinion, that for 
several years, the schools had generally fallen below the common 
standard, and would not bear comparison with many of the immedi- 
ate neighborhood. The evils so long endured, they attributed to 
false economy, in the employment of ill paid and incompetent teach- 
ers. The remedy was suggested, in the arrangement soon after adopt- 
ed, and since continued, with the slight modifications pointed out by 
experience or required by the alteration of social condition. It was 
urged on the inhabitants, ' as they regarded parental obligations, as 
they loved their offspring, as they estimated their responsibility to 
God and their country, to cooperate unitedly and individually in the 
attainment of the great object.' The appeal was not in vam. The 
recommendations were confirmed, and liberal grants made for their 
execution. On the 31st of Dec. 1S23, the first Board of Overseers 
was elected. They were Aaron Bancroft, Jonathan Going, Aretius 
B.Hull, Loammi Ives Hoadley, Levi Lincoln, John Davis, Theoph- 
ilus Wheeler, Otis Corbett, Enoch Flagg, Benjamin Chapin, Sam- 
uel M. Burnside, and Frederic W. Paine ; the heavy duty of carry- 
ing into operation the measures proposed, and sanctioned by the votes 
of the district, was devolved upon and faithfully discharged by them. 
The statement of the present condition will show the extent of their 
arduous and meritorious exertions, and the amount of resulting good. 
Resort to the contingent aid of voluntary contribution having beeiv 



304 CENTRE SCHOOL DISTRICT. 

found ineffectual and feeble, authority was obtained from the Legis- 
lature, Jan. 27, 1824, to bring the steady support of taxation for the 
support of schools. An additional act, Feb. 1826, authorized the 
notification of meetings, by an advertisement, signed by a majority 
of the overseers, posted on the meeting houses seven days previous. 

A board of twelve persons, annually elected, have the duty of as- 
certaining the qualifications of teachers and the attainments of schol- 
ars ; prescribing the course of instruction ; establishing proper reg- 
ulations; investigating all complaints of parents, pupils, or instruc- 
tors; of the disbursement of monies; the examination and supervis- 
ion of the schools ; and of reporting in writing on the progress made 
during their term of office. 

Ten permanent schools are arranged in regular gradation, and 
kept through the year, with such vacations only as the convenience 
of the teachers may require, or the discretion of the board permit. 

Of the lowest orade are, the Infant Schools, first opened in 1830, 
receiving children at the earliest age at which they can derive bene- 
fit from public instruction. 

Next are the North and South Primary Schools, receiving their 
pupils by promotion from the infant schools. 

The pupils, when qualified, are advanced to the two Boy's English 
Schools, and to the Second Female School. 

Highest in rank, is the Female High School, corresponding with 
the Latin Grammar School, to which promotions are made from the 
Primary schools. 

There is an African School, for children of color, established in 
1828, where all the useful branches of education are taught. 

A school, first opened in 1828, has since been annually kept during 
the winter months, for apprentices and clerks, and such other boys 
as can attend only through a part of the year. 

The instructors are required to keep a register, exhibiting an ac- 
count of the conduct and proficiency of every pupil during each day. 
Monthly visitations arc made by the overseers, and each scholar is 
then subjected to examination, and report of the result made to the 
board, at their stated meetings on the first Monday of every month. 

It was originally proposed, that all the schools subject to the vis- 
itorial direction of the overseers, should be under the superinten- 
dence of the Grammar master, with the view, that some competent 
person, professionally devoted to education, should bestow that con* 
stant attention on the execution of the details of the system, which 
men engaged in the cares and occupations of life, could not give 



CENTRE SCHOOL DISTRICT. 305 

iour by hour. Dr. Bancroft, the enlightened friend of youth, repor- 
ing for the committee of 1823, writes, ' the whole will form but 
me school, under the general superintendence of the board of over- 
eers, and children will be advanced from class to class till they 
each the highest. And in order to give strength and unity to the 
ystem, your committee are convinced, that the grammar master 
iught to have the superintendence of all the schools in the Centre 
louse, and that the pupils should be classed under his direction in 
uch manner as to make the most economical use of time without 
eference to the particular school to which they belong. ' Difficul- 
ies resulting from the separate policy of the town and district, pre- 
ented the effect of an arrangement so judicious in its principle. 

The following table exhibits the condition of the schools of the 
listrict in the month of Sept. 1836. 

Schools. Teachers. Whole Boys Gjr]s (q to tQ Over 

No - " 5. 10. 15. ia 

,atin Grammar, Charles Thurber, 40 40 29 11 
female High, Eliz. B. Hamilton, 38 38 1 32 5 
second Female, Jerusha Knight, 49 49 8 41 
Joy's English, Warren Lazell, 50 50 9 39 2 
Second Boy's, Albion P. Peck, 53 53 24 29 
forth Primary, Lois W. Harrington,63 G3 40 23 
South Primary, Caroline M. Corbett,55 55 45 10 
forth Infant, Mary S. Ward, 75 39 3G 33 42 

Central Infant, Abigail Pratt, 80 40 34 39 41 

South Infant, Martha S. Hamilton, 53 29 24 23 30 
few South Inft. Rebecca S. Coes, 34 16 18 8 25 10 
African, Hannah C. Perrin, 22 9 13 5 16 10 

A recommendation made by Dr. Bancroft, was adopted, Feb. 23, 
825, and it was ordered ' that at two o'clock of the afternoon of the 
Saturday which closes the scholastic year, a public address be annual- 
y delivered in one of the houses for public worship, by some person 
ippointed by the board ; the prominent objects of which shall be, to 
llustrate the importance of good education and the best method of 
icquiring and extending such an education ; and give to the district 
issembled a just view of the manner in which their schools are and 
hould be conducted. Let this address be followed by prayer. Let 
>roper measures be taken to insure a full audience from the District, 
ind let the pupils of each school be seated together, with their teach- 
;r at their head. Further pageantry, the committee think, would be 
unnecessary and useless.' The beautiful thought of its benevolent 
39 



306 PRIVATE INSTRUCTION. 

author has had that observance which its origin deserved. Among 
the most interesting of festivals, has been the long procession of chil- 
dren, going up to the church, each April, with the plain and un- 
ostentatious simplicity, the founder of the ceremony designed, to hear 
the words of good counsel or admonition. 

Those named below have made addresses on these occasions. 

1825. Aaron Bancroft, 1831. Alfred D. Foster, 

1826. Samuel M. Burnside, 1832. John S. C. Abbot, 

1827. Jonathan Going, 1833. Frederic A. Willard, 
1823, Isaac Goodwin, 1834. Stephen Salisbury, 

1829. Alonzo Hill, 1835. Ira Barton, 

1830. Isaac Davis, 1S36. William Lincoln. 
Such are the brief outlines of the plan, affording instruction from 

its lowest elements to its highest branches, beginning at the alpha- 
bet, advancing by regular gradations to the more elevated depart- 
ments of learning, and affording to every citizen of the district the 
means of giving to his children all the education necessary for ad- 
mission to the Universities, or desirable for the commencement of 
the engagements of business. 

PRIVATE INSTRUCTION. 

Although munificent grants sustained the great system of the com- 
mon schools, instruction alike of lower and higher grade than they 
afforded, was required and has been supported at private charge, or 
undertaken by individual enterprise. 

On the last day of March, 1791, Mr. Thomas Payson advertised 
his intentions to open a seminary for young ladies, ' as soon as the 
roads were more settled.' His experiment was brief, and probably 
unsatisfactory to himself. 

Miss Hannah Spofford commenced a school on the same plan, in 
May, 1804. Her proposals afford data for estimating the extent of 
female accomplishments deemed desirable at that period, and the 
cost of their attainment. Reading, plain sewing and marking, were 
taught, for the compensation of two dollars the quarter : embroidery, 
ornamental work on muslin, writing, arithmetic, grammar, rhetoric, 
and the art of composition, could be gained for three dollars: paint- 
ing in water colors and crayon, and filagree work, were charged at 
four dollars for the same period. 

Mrs. Nugent, succeeded this lady, adding in the Academy she 
opened in 1805, the exercises of geography, tambour work, land- 
ocape painting, and music. 



SUNDAY SCHOOLS. 307 

Other instructors were here in later years. In 1823, an Acade- 
ny for the instruction of youth in the highest branches of education, 
rt 7 as commenced by the Rev. Benjamin F. Farnsworth, and contin- 
led about a year. A building was purchased, by an association, 
ncorporated March 10, 1832, as the Proprietors of the Worcester 
female Academy, and a school was kept by Mrs. A. M. Wells, dur- 
ng a year, and subsequently by Mr. John Wright. The corporation 
vas afterwards dissolved and the edifice sold. 

Instruction of the most excellent cast has been given to young la- 
lies, by Dr. John Park, for twenty years a teacher of distinguished 
eputation in Boston, who removed from that city to this place, in 
L831. His classes have been so limited, as to admit of that oral com- 
nunication which best imparts knowledge, and of the direct influ- 
mce of a gifted mind, rich in learning and experience, to form pure 
noral and strong intellectual character. 

In the spring of 183G, a school of high grade for young ladies was 
commenced by Mr. Robert Phipps, which has been successfully con- 
inued. In September, the pupils were 35. 

SUNDAY SCHOOLS. 

Before 1816, beside the public religious instruction, there were 
ecitations in a catechism prepared by Dr. Bancroft, after the stated 
ectures, by the children of the second parish. In May, of that year, 
i class of 25, soon increasing to 60, was formed by the Rev. Jona- 
han Going, in the Baptist society, and one of the first of the Sab- 
>ath Schools within the county of Worcester was established. Al- 
nost simultaneously the system which is exerting a happy influence 
m moral condition, was adopted by the first parish, and has been ex- 
ended to the other societies. 

The number of scholars connected with the several churches, is 
stated in the latest published reports, as follows : 

First Parish, 300, Calvinist Society, 235, 

Second Parish, 170, Union Society, 162. 

Baptist Society, 250, 

The schools are generally under the direction of societies formed 
or their support, and are furnished with useful libraries collected by 
/oluntary contributions. 

WORCESTER MANUAL LABOR HIGH SCHOOL. 

At a meeting of a few individuals desirous of founding an insti- 
;ution for education in the interior, under the patronage of the Bap- 
;ist denomination, in March, 1832, it was determined to raise $5000, 



308 MANUAL LABOR HIGH SCHOOL. 

as a foundation fund. This sum was obtained, by subscriptions, 
principally within the county, and it was resolved^ that the school 
should be placed in Worcester. A committee was elected to effect 
the design, consisting of Isaac Davis and Otis Corbett of Worces- 
ter, Edward Phillips of Sturbridge, and Otis Converse, of Grafton. 
The details of the plan were wisely left to their discretion, under 
the general direction that the instruction should be of the first order ; 
that strict moral and religious character should be attained ; and that 
every facility should be afforded for productive labor, to the end that 
education should be good, but not expensive. 

Among the most influential and zealous in the formation, devel- 
opment, and execution of this project, was Isaac Davis, Esq. who 
has been the President, and one of the most devoted in personal and 
pecuniary exertions, to the promotion of the prosperity of the Insti- 
tution. 

In November, 1832, a tract of twenty nine acres of land was pur- 
chased at the price of 875 the acre, and another lot of thirty one 
acres for 865 the acre, about half a mile south of the village. The 
academic buildings were erected in 1833, at the expense of about 
$10,000. The trustees were incorporated Feb. 28, 1834, with full 
powers of visitation and government. 

On the dedication of the seminary, June 4, 1834, an address was 
delivered by Rev. Frederic A. Willard, and religious exercises per- 
formed by Rev. Abiel Fisher. The school went into operation with 
about 30 scholars, under the superintendence of Silas Bailey, B. IL 
1834. The second term, Amos W. Stockwell, A. G. 1834, was em- 
ployed as assistant, succeeded the third term by Mr. Rhodes B. Chap- 
man, who resigned in the fall of 1830, and Hervey S. Dale, B. U. 
1834, was appointed teacher. 

The institution has a library of about 500 volumes, and a philo- 
sophical and mathematical apparatus, was presented by Stephen Sal- 
isbury, Esq. one of the trustees. 

The studies pursued, are grammar, geography, rhetoric, book- 
keeping, arithmetic, algebra, geometry, surveying, the languages, in- 
tellectual and natural philosophy, and chemistry. The academic year 
is divided into four terms, of eleven weeks each, commencing on 
the first Wednesday in September, December, March, and June; 
and each followed by two weeks of vacation. The charge of each 
term, for tuition in English studies, is 85, and in the languages, $7 : 
for rent of room and furniture, 82. Board in commons is furnished 
at the actual cost : the aggregate expenditure for provisions, ser- 



MOUNT ST. JAMES SEMINARY. 309 

vants, and other necessary payments, being divided proportionably 
among the scholars. 

It was the original design, not only to afford the means of the ac- 
quisition of knowledge by teachers, library, and apparatus, but to 
furnish such employment as would promote the health of the stu- 
dents, while it enabled them to defray some part of their expenses. 
During the period of agricultural operation, this has been provided. 
The farm and garden are cultivated by the students : if the full labor 
of a man is performed, eight cents the hour is allowed for the ser- 
vice, and the same ratio of compensation is adopted for less work. 
A report of the principal, in the autumn of 1835, states, that many 
of the students have been enabled to pay their tuition, and some, by 
industry, had discharged the bill for board ; and adds, that those who 
had given evidence of the greatest improvement, on a then recent 
examination, had spent a portion of almost every day in active labor. 
The want of funds has yet prevented the erection of buildings and 
accumulation of capital, necessary for establishing branches of man- 
ufactures and mechanics, affording useful occupation during the in- 
clement season. 

The number of students in 183G, was 135 : among them, 18 from 
Worcester. The officers are : Isaac Davis, President : Otis Cor- 
bett, Secretary : Ichabod Washburn, Treasurer : Silas Bailey, Prin- 
cipal: Hervey S. Dale, Teacher : Joel Marble, Steward: Rev. Abi- 
el Fisher, Joseph White, Rev. Otis Converse, Rev. Frederic A. 
Willard, Stephen Salisbury, Otis Corbett, Isaac Davis, Edward Phil- 
lips, Samuel D. Spurr, Pearley Goddard, Daniel Goddard, Ichabod 
Washburn, Joseph Converse, Joseph T. Everett, Trustees. 

MOUNT ST. JAMES SEMINARY. 

This institution, of very recent origin, was founded by Rev. 
James Fitton. Its buildings are situated on the northern slope of 
Pakachoag Hill, and are connected with a farm of about sixty acres 
of land. The government is vested in a President, Principal, and 
Prefects, of the Catholic denomination. The course of instruction 
comprises the branches of practical education which qualify youth 
for usefulness in the business of life. Pupils of the age of eight 
vears are admitted, From the elementary studies of reading, writ- 
ing, and grammar, they may proceed through courses of arithmetic, 
bookkeeping, geography, astronomy, history, and composition. 
There are two scholastic terms in the year ; one from September to 
March, the other from March to the middle of August : the first 



310 POPULATION. 

followed by one week, and the second by two weeks, of vacation. 
In the published statement, the expenses of support and tuition are 
estimated at eighty dollars per annum. 

The present officers are Rev. James Fitton, President, and Jo- 
seph Brigden, Principal. 



CHAPTER XV. 

Population. Emigration. Mortality. Valuation. Taxation, Support of the Poor. 
Communication. Stages. Manufactures. Trade. 

Population. Until within a few years, the inhabitants of Wor- 
cester have been principally employed in agriculture, and the pop- 
ulation has increased slowly but gradually, until the commencement 
of works of internal improvement and the establishment of manu- 
factures, which have given great and rapid accessions of numbers. 

The tables below show the numbers in the different years ex- 
pressed. 







1790. 


1800. 


1810. 


1820. 


Age. 


Mah 


:. Fem 


Male. 


Fem. 


Male. Fem. 


Male. 


Fem. 


Under 10 years. 


i 


— 


350 


428 


337 355 


479 


344 


From 10 to 16, 


494 


178 


162 


186 182 


171 


188 


From 16 to 26, 


601 




277 


230 


262 283 


403 


312 


From 26 to 45, 


— 


949 


213 


245 


242 234 


319 


325 


45 and upwards 


> 


— 


175 


170 


207 531 


218 


270 


Total, 


1095 949 


1193 


1135 


1234 1343 


1490 


1439 








1830 










Age. 


Male. 


Fern. 


Tot. 




Age. Male. 


Fem. 


Tot. 


Under 5 years, 


300 


280 


580 


From 


40 to 50, 155 


156 


311 


From 5 to 10, 


218 


218 


436 




50 to 60, 83 


95 


178 


10 to 15, 


188 


209 


397 




60 to 70, 44 


71 


115 


15 to 20, 


258 


229 


487 




70 to 80, 43 


38 


81 


20 to 30, 


537 


428 


965 




80 to 90, 8 


10 


18 


30 to 40, 

The nnmbi 


260 
>r of f 


251 

'ree bl 


511 

acks in 


1777. 


90 to 100, 

2094 
were 10 : in 1' 


3 

1978 
790, 51 


3 

4072 

L: in 



1800, 83 : in 1810, 88 : in 1820, 95 : in 1830, 90. 



EMIGRATION. 31 1 

In 1820, there are returned as engaged in commerce, 1 : agri- 
culture, 218 : manufactures, 126 : foreigners, 19. 

The whole population in different years was as follows : 
Years, 1763. 1776. 1790. 1800. 1310. 1820. 1825. 1830. 1835. 1836. 

Pop. 1478 1925 2095 2411 2577 2962 3650 4172 6624 abt. 7500 

Emigration. The enterprise of the citizens of Worcester, and 
the want of profitable employment of industry at home, has, at dif- 
ferent periods, led her natives to seek fortune in regions deemed more 
propitious. About 1730, a colony of the presbyterian planters went 
out to Worcester in New York. Soon after the war of the revolu- 
tion, the town of Paris, in Maine, was founded by Levi Hubbard, and 
the brothers of the Stovvell family, joining with him, have been among 
the useful and honored of the inhabitants of that town. Many oth- 
er of the young plantations of that state derived accessions of num- 
bers and worth from our community. Col. Josiah Brewer was the 
first settler of Cummington in Hampshire Co. Mass. Col. Timothy 
Bigelow, in 1780, became grantee of Montpelier : Col. Ephraim 
Doolittle, long resident here, commenced the cultivation of Shore- 
ham : and Windsor, Chester, and Woodstock, all in Vermont, re- 
ceived additions from our citizens. Some were in Col. Putman's 
expedition of 1787, to build cities in the then far West, and many 
went, after the war of 1812, to new lands. The county of Wor- 
cester has been like a hive of population, sending out swarms in all 
directions. The town has borne full share in this contribution to the 
good of others. The biographical notices of former pages show a 
portion of the talent thus bestowed. 

Mortality. The favorable local situation of the town, the salu- 
brity of the climate and healthful occupations of the people, have 
rendered the visitations of epidemic disease unfrequent. 

Before the small pox had been disarmed of its fearful power of 
destruction, during the period when it spread over the country, hos- 
pitals were established in the town, to which whole families resorted 
for inoculation, in preference to awaiting the danger of taking the 
disease the natural way. This malady prevailed generally in 1776, 
when the deaths here were 76. 

In 1796, the dysentery prevailed, and between July and Novem- 
ber, 44 children under five years, and 15 persons over that age, died 
here of that complaint. The number of deaths in that year, was 80 : 
the average of five preceding years had been 24. 

In 1810 and in 1813, a very malignant fever raged and created 



312 MORTALITY. 

great terror in the county. Its destroying effect, though severe, was 
less fatal here than in other towns. 

The bills of mortality have been imperfectly kept until recently. 
The following tables, collected with great labor, exhibit accurate re- 
sults through the period they comprehend. 



x ears. 


Under 
1. 


1 

to 
5. 


5 
to 
10. 


10 
to 
20. 


20 
to 
30. 


30 
to 
40. 


40 
to 
50. 


50 
to 
60. 


60 
to 
70. 


70 
to 
80. 


80 
to 

90. 


90 

to 

100. 


Un- , 
known 


rot. 


1816 


2 


3 





1 


2 


2 


2 


2 


2 


4 


2 





1 




23 


1817 


3 


5 


4 


4 


5 


5 


4 


2 


3 


4 


3 


1 


6 




49 


1818 


1 


6 





2 


7 


3 


4 


3 


6 


2 





2 


7 




43 


1819 


4 


5 


1 


2 


8 


2 


1 


3 


3 


3 


3 


2 


14 




51 


1820 


2 


2 


2 


2 


5 


5 


2 


3 


2 


4 





3 


7 




39 


1821 


3 


2 





2 


4 


2 


o 
O 


1 


8 


3 








7 




35 


1822 


2 


5 


1 


3 


5 


7 


1 


4 


6 


1 


1 


1 


2 




39 


1823 


3 


6 


2 


4 


4 


4 


4 


3 


2 


2 


3 





20 




57 


1824 





2 


1 


1 


1 


6 


3 


5 


10 


1 


2 


1 


5 




38 


1825 


3 


4 


1 





1 


4 


3 


3 


3 


2 


1 





18 




43 


1826 


4 


5 


1 


5 


5 


G 


2 


4 


3 


3 








22 




60 


1827 


3 


5 


1 


1 


5 


3 


1 


1 


1 


4 


6 


1 


14 




46 


1828 


7' 


5 








4 


6 


1 


2 


5 


4 


6 





15 




55 


1829 


5 


11 


o 


2 


4 


1 


5 


4 


5 


2 


3 





5 




49 


1830 


8 


5 


2 


4 


12 


9 


4 


4 


8 


5 


6 


2 


2 




68 


1S31 


9 


6 


10 


3 


10 


5 


5 


5 


4 


10 


7 










74 


1832 


10 


10 


7 


5 


10 


5 


10 


3 


5 


3 





1 


2 




71 


1833 


14 


13 


1 


3 


8 


1 


11 


4 


4 


2 


7 










68 


1834 


21 


15 


4 


1 


4 


9 


5 


4 


6 


5 


3 





10 




87 


1835 


20 


10 


5 


10 


12 


10 


4 


5 


6 


2 


3 


1 


17 




105 




Jan. 


Feb. 


Mar. 


Apr 


. Maj 


'. Jun 


e. July. Au 


j. Sep. Oct. Nov. Dec. Total 




1807 


10 


4 


4 


3 


2 


1 


2 


5 


5 


4 


2 


6 




48 




1810 








3 


5 


7 


5 


3 


4 


5 


4 


1 


2 




39 




1815 


2 


1 


3 


3 


4 


1 


2 





2 


5 


3 


6 




:;•> 




1820 


6 


5 


2 


1 


4 


1 


2 


3 


5 


5 


2 


3 




39 




1825 


2 


7 


2 


1 


2 


3 


2 


3 


6 





1 


8 




43 




1830 


5 


7 


9 


4 


4 


4 


8 


8 


7 


8 


1 


3 




68 




1831 


8 


6 


5 


3 


3 


3 


6 


4 


2 


10 


6 


14 




70 




1832 


4 


6 


7 


7 


6 


4 


7 


7 


8 


2 


10 


3 




71 




1833 


7 


8 


7 


1 


4 


5 


3 


8 


12 


7 


4 


2 




63 




1834 


8 


8 


4 


7 


3 


5 


9 


11 


5 


10 


7 


10 




87 




1835 


10 


9 


12 


8 


7 


3 


6 


10 


11 


15 


5 


9 


105 





The deaths in other years, so far as the means of ascertaining the 
numbers are preserved, were : in 1775, 22 : in 1776, 76 : in 1778, 
39 : in 1779, 21 : in 1780, 17 : in 1781, 24 : in 1782, 31 : in 1783, 
28 : in 1784, 38 : in 1791, 22 : in 1792, 26 : in 1793, 23 : in 1794, 
18 : in 1795, 33 : in 1796, 80 : in 1797, 28 : in 1808, 39 : in 1809, 
29: in 1811, 32: in 1812, 21 : in 1813, 70: in 1814, 42. 



VALUATION. 



313 



The ratio of deaths to population in 1830 was 1 in 61: 1831, 1 in 
61 : 183:3, 1 in 05 : 1833, 1 in 70 : 1834, 1 in 80 : 1835, 1 in G3. 

There have been a few instances of extraordinary longevity. 
John Young died June 30, 1730, aged 107 : Sylvia, an African fe- 
male, May 22, 1804, a. 105 : Kesina Harris, Oct. 27, 1832, a. 1G2. 1 

Valuation. The following estimates of the principal articles of 
property are compiled from the returns of the assessors in the of- 
fice of the Secretary of the Commonwealth. On these documents 
the valuation of the state in successive years has been founded. Al- 
though the results cannot be considered precisely correct, they ap- 
proximate near to accuracy. 







1781. 


1791. 


1801. 


1811. 


1821. 


1831. 


Buildings, Barns, 


207 


218 


256 


310 


371 


450 




Houses, 


216 


244 


278 


330 


384 


521 




Shops, 


11 


16 


18 


71 


86 


123 


Other Buildings, 


32 


49 


no 


146 


221 


372 


Cider, 


No. of barrels, 


2063 


2478 


2999 


33-24 


2114 


— 


Grain, 


Barley, bushels, 


— 


— 


359 


289 


625 


575 




Corn, 


— 


— 


13350 


14112 


17813 


22272 




Oats, 


— 


— 


6165 


7228 


11784 


17645 




Rye, 


— 


— 


4813 


4164 


5726 


4261 




Wheat, 


— 


— 


4S2 


238 


287 


39 


Hay, 


English, tons, 


— 


— 


Jitil 


1683 


2500 


4249 




Meadow, 


— 


— 


T393 


1417 


1204 


1431 


Land, 


Tillage, acres, 


1034 


1193 


1395 


1745 


1962 


1925 




Mowing, 


1074 


1253 


1754 


2362 


2882 


3932 




Meadow, 


1606 


1574 


1814 


1856 


1844 


1751 




Pasture, 


2881 


4199 


7469 


7794 


10560 


10262 




Wood, 2 


14912 


12213 


5114 


4S74 


3421 


3730 




Unimproved, 


— 


— 


4246 


3918 


1293 


1072 




Unimprovable, 


— 


2166 


907 


316 


857 


72 




Covered by water, 


— 


— 


90 


396 


388 


448 




roads, 


— 


— 


420 


444 


450 


489 


Live Stock, Cows and steers 


, 778 


1039 


1063 


1050 


1101 


1822 




Horses, 


277 


319 


390 


321 


314 


434 




Oxen, 


365 


407 


513 


391 


488 


614 




Swine, 


212 


671 


687 


565 


717 


698 


Ratab 


e Polls, 


389 


486 


520 


519 


643 


1109 



1 Josiah Pierce, who died in 1806, a. 85, left 14 children, 77 grand children, and 35 
great grand children. Kesiah Nichols died 1807, leaving 152 lineal descendants: 7 
children, 52 grand children, 86 great grand children, 7 great great grand children. Col. 
Benjamin Flagg, died Nov. 1819, aged 95, leaving 4 children 42 grand children, 83 
great grand children. 

2 In 1781, 1791, the woodland and unimproved land are not distinguished. 

40 



314 TAXATION. 

The ratable polls have numbered as follows, in years not includ- 
ed in the tables. 
Years, 1777. 1773. 1780. 1793. 1803. 1813. 1823. 1833. 1834. 1836. 

Polls, 438 440 460 490 508 599 715 1300 1312 1683 

The aggregate value of the property of the town is inserted in a 
column below. 

Taxation. The following statement will furnish a comparative 
view of the sums raised for public expenses in different periods. In 
addition to the town taxes for the support of schools, large sums are 
assessed in the Centre District. 



Years. 


Total 


Total 


High- 


School 


Public 


County 


State 


Ratable 




Valuation. 


Taxes. 


ways. 


Tax. 


Worship. 


Tax. 


Tax. 


Polls. 


1800. 


8 296542 


83017 


81500 81628 


8808 


8151 


8 962 


530 


1805. 


443760 


2130 


2000 


1300 


875 


238 


1171 


540 


1810. 


1476383 


3213 


2000 


1500 


1195 


297 


1049 


518 


1815. 


1776635 


4580 


2000 


1500 


1443 


219 


1325 


641 


1820. 


2015750 


4715 


2000 


1700 


2604 


983 


1181 


626 


1825. 


2437550 


6215 


2000 


2000 


2458 


485 


— 


881 


1S30. 


2747800 


8073 


2000 


2700 


4868 


1295 


619 


1018 


1835. 


3667250 


15986 


2500 


3600 


5480 


1564 


— 


1570 


1836. 


3990950 


24047 


6700 


5200 


6435 


1564 


— 


1683 



The expenditures of the town during the year ending in March, 
1836, were, as stated in a report : for highways, 82445 : repairs of 
bridges, 8104: new roads, 8965: schools, 83472: fire department, 
8800: new engine house, 81200 : principal and interest of town 
debt, 83379: lighting streets, 8341 : poor establishment, 81404: 
poor not at the poor house, 8453 : compensation to assessors, 8170 : 
burials, 8216 : amounting, with some contingent expenses, to 815698. 
Of this sum, 8 527 has been repaid by allowance for support of 
state paupers : and 8341 from other towns, from individuals, or from 
pensions. 

Support of the Poor. In the early years of the town, the 
charges for supporting those who by infirmity or misfortune were 
destitute of the means of subsistence, were inconsiderable. There 
was a general equality of pecuniary condition, and that common 
prosperity and independence resulting from industry, frugality and 
temperance, which either prevented indigence or relieved its wants. 
Those who needed aid, were sustained by the charity of neighbors, 
more blessed with worldly goods, freely contributing for their com- 
fort. The first tax assessed for the support of the poor, seems to have 
been as late as 1757, when £o 4s. were appropriated for that use. 



SUPPORT OF POOR. 315 

In 1763, it was voted, ' that a suitable workhouse be built for placino- 
therein all persons that are, or may be, to be supported by the town, 
to be under the direction of the selectmen.' In 1772, a buildino-, 
for the same purpose was erected on Front street, 40 by 18 feet in 
dimensions, at an expense of <£70. Little charities were often be- 
stowed on the meritorious, so small as to be memorials of the com- 
passion, rather than the munificence of the public. In 1766, ,£6 
were raised, to be disposed of in transporting a sick female to Staf- 
ford, and supporting her there while using the medicinal waters of 
the spring, ' she being one of the poor of the place, and laboring 
under great infirmity.' In 1784, the selectmen were empowered 
'to procure an anvil for Cato Walker, and lend it to him, or let him 
it during "their pleasure.' In 1807, it was determined to build an 
Alms House of brick, but after land had been purchased for the 
site, and materials for the structure, the plan was abandoned. Un- 
til 1817, the poor were supported by contracts with the highest bid- 
der at public auction, in the manner usual in the country towns. 
In that year, the Jennison farm, situated on the great road to Bos- 
ton, bordering on the upper end of Quinsigamond Pond, was pur- 
chased, with its comfortable mansion, for 85500, and a permanent 
home provided for the aged and infirm of our indigent citizens 
This establishment, under the supervision of the selectmen, is con- 
fided to the charge of a Superintendent, constantly residing with his 
family in the house, upon a salary of $350 annually, with board and 
rent, conducting the cultivation of the land, and ministering to the 
comfort of the numerous dependents placed by the swelling popu- 
lation and peculiar local situation of the town under his charge, as 
well as exercising good discipline over those committed by public 
authority to this institution, as a workhouse. 

A building has been erected, affording suitable accommodations 
for the insane, and a hospital is to be established for relief from the 
occasional visitation of contagious disorders. 

The following statement exhibits the condition of those supported 
by the charity of the town for two years. 

1834. 1835. 

Males, 42, 58 

Females, 27, 23 

Whites, C3, 75 

Blacks, 6, 6 

From 80 to 90 years of age, 0, 6 

Above 93 years of age, H, 6 



Intemperate, 


25, 


Married, 


24, 


Bom in Worcester, 


31, 


Foreigners, 


9, 


Unable to read or write, 


5, 


Blind, 


2, 


Idiotic, 


5, 


Insane, 


4, 


Whole number, 


69, 



810 COMMUNICATION. 

28 
31 
33 
24 

4 
2 
5 

2 

81 

The annual taxes for the support of the poor from 1762 to the 
revolution, would average <£30. 

Communication. Prior to 1755, there was a mail between Bos- 
ton and Philadelphia. A letter sent from one city to the other, was 
then three weeks on its way, and the writer could not have obtained 
an answer in less than about seven weeks. A great reform took 
place in that year, and the speed was so accelerated, that the mails 
were delivered in fifteen days, so that the reply to the letter could be 
received in a month from its date. The first stage on the route 
from Boston to New York, set up by J. and N. Brown, started 
June 24, 1772, and was intended to run once a fortnight. In the 
Boston Evening Post, July 6, 1772, patronage is solicited, and it is 
promised ' that gentlemen and ladies who choose to encourage this 
new, useful, and expensive undertaking, may depend upon good 
usage, and that the coach will always put up at houses on the road 
where the best entertainment is provided.' Notice was given, that 
' the coaches will leave New York and Boston, on their next trip, on 
Monday, July 13, and arrive at each of those places on Saturday 
the 25th,' occupying thirteen days in going from one place to the 
other. The mail stage now goes from Boston to New York in 34 
hours, and to Philadelphia in 44 hours. A person might reach the 
former city in 24 hours by public conveyance. 

The stage was not continued to the revolution. In 1774, the only 
regular communication of the town, was by a post, going once a 
week between Hartford and Boston, and occupying six days in the 
journey. At that time, the mails were carried on horseback in sad- 
dlebags. James Adams, who died at Charlemont, at advanced age, 
and a Mr. Hyde, were long employed on this route, and went through 
Shrewsbury, Worcester, Leicester, and Springfield. 

Soon after the removal of the Spy to Worcester, Mr. Thomas 
made extensive arrangements for its distribution. In June, 1775, 
a post rider set off each Wednesday at noon, who, by hard traveling 



COMMUNICATION. ^ l7 

arrived at Cambridge the next forenoon, and at Salem by night. 
Returning, he left Watertovvn as soon as Edes and Gill's Gazette 
was published on Tuesday, and reached Worcester in the evening. 
On Wednesday, a post started for Providence, and came back on 

Saturday. 

The first Post Office of the town was established, Nov. 15, 1775, 
under the charge of Isaiah Thomas, receiving and forwarding one 
mail from the west on Tuesday evening, and one from the east on 
Friday morning. Nathaniel Maccarty, who had been apprentice to 
Mr. Thomas, carried papers and letters to Fitchburg every Wednes- 
day, thence distributed through the north part of the country. 

The condition of the roads rendered traveling slow, difficult, and 
dangerous, and intercourse was laborious, tedious, and expensive. 
The mails were transmitted, as almost all passing was performed, on 
horseback. A journey of an hundred miles was a matter of greater 
preparation, apprehension, and toil, than one of a thousand would 
be now. There were few vehicles of any description. The first 
pleasure carriage which was in the town, is said to have been a 
chaise, owned by Daniel Waldo, sen., a merchant of Boston, who 
after residing some time in Lancaster, removed to Worcester in 1782. 
The first effort to establish a stage, appears, from an advertise- 
ment, June 13, 1782, stating, that ' a gentleman in Boston, having a 
genteel coach and a span of horses, would be willing to be concern- 
ed with some trusty person capable of driving a stage between Bos- 
ton and Worcester.' The proposal was not accepted. But the pro- 
ject of making a regular communication did not long slumber. Le- 
vi Pease, then of Somers, Conn, and Reuben Sikes, 1 then of Suf- 

)Levi Pease, sometime of Somers, Conn, afterwards of Boston, became an inhabi- 
tant of Shrewsbury, where he died Jan. 28, 18% aged 84, During the revolution, he 
served under Gen. Thomas, in the Northern department, and in supplying the army 
with provisions, was often exposed to great danger and hardship. His BCtivity and 
fidelity recommended him to Gen. Wadsworlh, and he was employed ,n useful service, 
connected with the operations of the South. He kept tavern for some time in Somers, 
afterwards in Boston, and finally went to Shrewsbury, where he afterwards resided. 

He was the original projector, for some time the sole proprietor, and long a pnncpal 
owner, of the stages between Boston and New York. He entered on the enterprise 
not only unassisted, but discouraged by his friends : the scheme was considered vision- 
ary and ruinous ; and the most judicious, regarded it as being at least a century in ad- 
vance of the public wants. 

Reu ben S.kes, born in Somers, Conn. July 16, 1755, went to Hartford in 1783, and 
after about two years residence removed to Wilbraham, where he remained about ten 
years : was sometime of Suffield, Conn, and in May 1807, came to Worcester aud was 
Ion- proprietor of the hotel, now the Exchange Coffee House. Although much younger 
than Cant. Pease, the industry, perseverance and enterprise, which marked his cnarac- 



318 COMMUNICATION. 

field, ' having furnished themselves with two convenient waggons,' 
began a business, Oct. 20, 1783, which became most extensive. One 
waggon started from the sign of the Lamb in Boston, every Monday 
morning, at 6 o'clock, and stopped for the night at Martin's, in North- 
borough : on Tuesday, going through Worcester, it rested at Rice's 
in Brookfield : on Wednesday, it advanced to Pease's, in Somers : 
and on Thursday reached Hartford. The other leaving Hartford at 
the same time, and stopping at the same houses, arrived in Boston 
in four days. Passengers were carried for 4d. the mile. Mr. Thom- 
as remarks, in the Spy of Oct. 30, ' Should these waggons be en- 
couraged, it will be of much advantage to the public, as persons who 
have occasion to travel between, or to, or from, either of the places, 
may be accommodated on very reasonable terms, and will not have 
the trouble and expense of furnishing themselves with horses.' 
They were encouraged, and the enterprising proprietors, personally 
acting as drivers and conductors, set about improvements of their 
accommodations and arrangements. In May, 1784, they purchased 
new carriages : Pease, going from the Lion, in Marlborough street, 
Boston, lodged at Farrar's in Shrewsbury, and the next day exchang- 
ed passengers at Spencer with Sikes, who returned by the route of 
Springfield to Hartford. The customers found their way to New 
Haven, and thence took sloop navigation to New York. Industry, 
frugality, devotion to business, and sagacious management, soon 
made the waggoners and stage drivers, wealthy proprietors and great 
mail contractors. They entered into an arrangement with Talmage 
Hall and Jacob Brown, of Hartford, to extend the stage communi- 
cation to New Haven, in Nov. 1784. 2 

ter, rendered him fit assistant in the execution of a plan, in its origin bold and hazar- 
dous. He was extensively engaged in the establishment and management of stages, 
and after the retirement of his partner, was one of the largest proprietors of that prop- 
erty in New England. He died August 19, 1824, aged 69, not long after his associate. 

2 The following interesting memoranda, transcribed from the New York Daily Adver- 
tiser, of 1833, differ somewhat from the account in the text. 

'In the year 173G, the first stage carriage that ever was established on the great 
post road between New York and Hartford, was set up by Jacob Brown, then a resi- 
dent of Hartford, in the state of Connecticut, and commenced running between Hart- 
ford and New Haven. It was a carriage somewhat resembling the coaches of later 
times, but far inferior to most of them in woikmanship and appearance, and was drawn 
by one pair of horses, which performed the whole journey through from one town to 
the other. The route was upon what is called the middle road, that is by Berlin, Wal- 
lingford, &.c. and the journey occupied the da}'. At that time, for a large part of the 
year, a great proportion of travelers from the Eastward to the city of New York, took 
passage at New Haven, on board the sloops which plied between the two ports, and 
thus finished their journey by water. The passages varied according to wind and 



COMMUNICATION. 319 

In Jan. 1786, the energetic founders had established a line of 
stages from Portsmouth to Savannah, transporting the several mails. 
From Boston to Hartford, coaches left the inn of Levi Pease, op- 
posite the Mall, every Monday and Thursday morning, at 5 o'clock: 
went to Worcester on the first day : on the next day to Palmer : 
on the third to Hartford : and in three days more arrived at New 
York. This was the winter arrangement : in summer, the stages 
run with the mail three times a week, ' by which means,' say the 
owners, ' those who take passage at Boston in the stage which sets 
off on Monday morning, may arrive at New York on the Thursday 
evening following, and all the mails during the season will be but 
four days from Boston to New York ;' and a letter adds, ' by this 
unparalleled speed, a merchant may go from Boston to New York, 
and return again in less than ten days ; which is truly wonderful.' 
The advertisement proceeds to remark, that ' it is the most conve- 
nient and expeditious way of travelling that can be had in America, 
and in order to render it the cheapest, the proprietors had lowered 
their price from 4d. to 3d. the mile, with liberty to passengers to 
carry 14 pounds weight of baggage.' In July, 1788, notice was 
given by Levi Pease, that after great expense and fatigue, he had 
completed the line of stages from Boston to New York ; that the 
carriages which before were heavy and uneasy, had been hung upon 
springs, and would not fatigue more than a common coach : and 
that to Nov. 1, there would be three stages a week, and from that 
date to May 1, two the week. 

From this time onward, the speed of traveling and its facilities 
were increased almost beyond measure. 1 

weather, from twelve hours to three days. A considerable part of the road between 
New Haven and New York, along the shore of the Sound, was extremely rough, rocky, 
and uncomfortable, and in fact in some places almost impassable for wheel carriages. 
After Brown's carriage had run for a year or two, or perhaps more, a man of the name 
of Hall petitioned the legislature of Connecticut for the exclusive privilege of running 
stage carriages on the road from New Haven through that state, to Byram river, 
which was granted, and the stages were established, and run for a number of years, 
when they passed into other hands. Not far from the same time an exclusive privilege 
of running stage carriages fiom Hartford to the Massachusetts line, between Suffield in 
Connecticut and West Springfield in Massachusetts, on the great post road to Boston, 
which then passed in that direction, was granted by the legislature of Connecticut to 
Reuben Sikes, who for many years, in connection with Levi Pease, of Shrewsbury in 
Massachusetts, and probably with others, kept up the line through to Boston.' 

1 The improvement in the rate of motion in England, has been as great as in the 
United States. An advertisement of stage coaches in the Newcastle Courant, of 1712, 
says, ' All that desire to pass from Edinbro' to London, or from London to Edinbro', 
or any place on that road, let them repair to Mr. John Bailie's at the Coach and Horses, 



320 COMMUNICATION. 

It would not be useful to detail further the steps in the progress 
of a branch of improvement, whose course may be so easily traced 
by inspection of the newspapers. 

Stages were placed on almost every road. The lines which cen- 
tred at Worcester, and went out and returned here in 1825, before 
canal or rail road affected this mode of conveyance, are thus enu- 
merated : there were stages, daily to Boston, Hartford, and New 
York, and to Oxford : three times a ivcck, 5 lines to Boston; 1 to 
Providence ; 1 through Hard wick to Northampton ; 1 throuo-h Brook- 
field to the same town ; 1 to Springfield ; 1 to Keene ; 1 to East 
Chelmsford ; 1 to Southbridge ; 1 to Dudley ; twice a week, there 
was a line to Providence ; and there were weekly lines to Athol, to 
Richmond, N. II. and to Ashburnham. Post riders carried mails 
twice a week to Pomfret, Conn, and weekly to Thompson, Conn.: 
others without mails went to Concord, Charlton, and Oxford. 

In 1831, it was estimated that the average amount of traveling 
in stages between Boston and Worcester, was equal to 22360 pas- 
sages per annum, for which the lowest price of fare was two dol- 
lars, and the shortest time six hours. 

The subjoined list exhibits an account of the different lines of 
stages in September, 1830, and the number of times each arrives 
and departs weekly. 

Stage to Weekly. 



Boston, 


Mail, 


7 


" 


Accommodation, 


3 


n 


Springfield Mail, 


3 


Hartford, 


Southern Mail, 


7 


a 


Tremont Line, 


G 


€( 


Citizens, 


6 


<( 


Telegraph, 


6 


Providence, 


6 


Lowell, 




6 


Norwich, 




6 



Stage to Weekly, 
Springfield, G 
Northampton, G 
Amherst, 6 


Keene, 


6 


Brattleborough, 


6 


North Brookfield 


, 3 


Barre, 


3 


Greenfield, 


G 


Millbury, 
Leicester, 


12 
12 



The stage books gave the total receipts of three lines for the year 
ending April 1, 1835, thus : from Worcester to Springfield 88,699 : 
to Northampton 813,086: by the way of Amherst 83,131 : amount- 

at the head of Cannongate, Edinbro', every other Saturday, or to the Black Swan, in 
Holborn, every other Monday: at both of which places, they may be received in a 
stage coach, which performs the whole journey in thirteen days, without any stoppage, 
if God permits, having 80 able horses to perform the whole stage.' A late English 
paper states that the Mail coach from Edinburgh to London has been through in 40 
hours. 



MANUFACTURES. 321 

ing in the whole to §24,915. It was estimated that the number of 
passengers annually carried between Worcester and Hartford was 
30,000. 

Manufactures. Before the revolution, and for a long period af- 
ter its conclusion, the manufactures of the town were very incon- 
siderable. 

Works for making potash were first established in the north part 
of the town, about 17C0 : buildings for similar purposes were plac- 
ed on Lincoln street, by John JNazro, about ten years after : four 
more were erected at much later periods ; but all have long since 
been destroyed. 

The distillation of rye, to an extent not only sufficient for home 
consumption, but affording some surplus for exportation, was early 
commenced, but was not successful. 

In 1780, an association was formed, for the purpose of spinning 
and weaving cotton. In February, it was stated in the Spy, that a 
subscription was making for defraying the expense of a jenny. Mr. 
Thomas announces, under date April 30, that ' on Tuesday last, the 
first piece of corduroy made at the manufactory in this town was 
taken from the loom. Good judges speak highly of it, as superior to 
English. The carding machine, which is a great curiosity, as well 
as is the spinning machine, has been completed some time. In a 
little time it is hoped, the corduroys, jeans, &c. made in this town 
will be sufficient to supply the country.' The proprietors, it is said, 
in December, ' had lately erected buildings, and taken other meas- 
ures to carry on business extensively. A large quantity of fustian, 
jean, and corduroy are for sale now, lasting longer, and retaining 
color and beauty better, than the foreign.' These articles with the 
addition of federal rib and cotton,' were advertised by Samuel Bra- 
zer, in May, 1790. The site of the establishment was on the stream 
a short distance below the Court Mills. Want of profit or persever- 
ance, induced the owners to forego their brilliant anticipations, and 
the manufactory edifice, removed to Main street, was long after known 
as the ' Green store.' 

Paper was made by Mr. Thomas in 1794, on the Blackstone Riv- 
er. The mill then erected was afterwards leased and finally sold 
to Elijah Burbank, and the business, continued by him until 1834, 
has since been extended by the Quinsigamond Paper Company. 
A card manufactory was commenced by Daniel Denny in 179S. 
Peter and Ebenezer Stowell, in Oct. 1804, commenced weaving 
41 



322 TRADE. 

carpets and plaids, and at one time, had six looms of their own in- 
vention and construction in operation. They pursued, at the same 
time, the business of printing calicos, and built shearing machines, 
superseded in use, in later days, by those of more perfect operation. 

Abel Stowell, carried on a very extensive manufacture of tower and 
church clocks, and many now remain to attest the value of his han- 
diwork, and mark the hours of the present generation. 

In 1803, Joshua Hale began the carding of wool in the south part 
of the town, and in 1810, erected a cotton factory, which, though 
of humble extent in comparison with the immense structures of the 
mill owners of the valley of the Blackstone, was considered a great 
enterprise a quarter of a century ago. 

During the last ten years the water power of the town has been 
made to have more than double the former capacity, by the establish- 
ment of reservoirs, and is susceptible of being increased to great ex- 
tent by the same means. 

There are now 2 mills manufacturing broadcloths : 6 making sat- 
inets : 1 for cotton sheeting and shirting : 2 for satinet warps : I 
for pelisse wadding : 2 for paper. There are 7 extensive establish- 
ments for building machinery : one wire factory : an iron foundry: 
and manufactories, of sashes, doors and blinds ; of lead aqueduct 
pipe : of paper hangings : of cabinet furniture : of chairs : of brush- 
es : of trunks and harnesses : of ploughs : of hats : of shoes : of 
watches : of umbrellas: of cutlery : of piano fortes; and many other 
articles of utility or ornament. The amount of production in the 
different branches of manufacturing industry is very great, and con- 
stantly increasing 1 

Trade. Where almost every hand and head is busy in some 
branch of industry, and employments are multiplied and various, it 
has been found impossible to state in figures the amount of capital 
employed, or the precise results on general wealth. 

Some aid is afforded in estimating the amount of business by the 
annual receipts of the Post Office. They are returned as follows : 
Years. 1825. 1826. 1827. 1828. 1829. 1830. 1831. 1832. 1833. 1834. 1835. 1836. 
Receipts. #713 844 961 1008 1141 1332 1338 1169 1743 2053 2294 2827 

The number of dwelling houses, stores, and factories, erected in 
the town, within the two last years, has been estimated to exceed 

1 An effort has been made to ascertain the amount of manufactures of the town : but 
sufficient information has not been obtained to make an estimate with accuracy. Some 
details in relation to manufactures, trade, and business, will be found in the appendix. 



MEDICAL SOCIETY. 323 

three hundred : the stores and warehouses actually occupied are 
upwards of ninety : 

The principal articles of import are grain, flour, lumber, coal, 
salt, lime, gypsum, oil, iron, lead, hardware, dry goods, groceries, 
paints, dye stuffs, cotton, and wool : of exports, ship timber, bricks, 
machinery, wooden ware, castings, cotton and woolen goods, paper, 
shoes, chairs. 



CHAPTER X VI. 

Societies and Institutions, Medical District Society. Antiquarian Society. Agricul- 
tural Society. Historical Society. Atheneum. Banks. Insurance Companies. 
Savings Institution. Various Associations. Military Companies. Newspapers 
and Periodicals. 

Many of the societies meeting, acting, and having a kind of resi- 
dence here, belong to the county or country, rather than the town : 
yet, they are so closely connected with Worcester, that they could 
not properly be passed by in its history. 

Worcester Medical Society. A medical association was first 
formed in the county of Worcester, August, 1784, of which Dr. 
Samuel Prentice was Secretary, but it soon died, leaving no records 
for the historian. 

The Mass. Medical Society, intended to produce that harmony 
and mutual effort necessary to elevate the profession to the standing 
and usefulness which the interests of the community required, failed 
of its object, by the limitation of its members to eighty in Massa- 
chusetts and Maine, and the restriction on their consultations with 
any, except those who obtained the qualifications they required. By 
the exertions of Dr. Oliver Fiske, the most respectable and influ- 
ential physicians of the county assembled, and formed the Worces- 
ter Medical Society, Dec. 18, 1794. Dr. John Frink of Rutland, 
was elected President, and Dr. Fiske of Worcester, Secretary. 
At an early meeting, a petition was preferred to the Legislature for 
incorporation, referred to a joint committee of physicians, and re- 
sulted in an arrangement to enlarge the numbers of the general 
society, and a proposal to create district associations. This system, 



324 ANTIQUARIAN SOCIETY. 

removing the evils which had been felt, and mutually satisfactory, 
was carried into effect, and on the 2Gth of Sept. 1804, the Worces- 
ter District Society was organized. The succession of Presidents 
has been as follows : 1704, John Frink : 1804, Israel Atherton : 
180G, Oliver Fiske : 1807, Thomas Babbitt: 1813, Abraham Has- 
kell : 1814, Jonathan Osgood : 1820, Abraham Haskell : 1825, St&> 
phen Bacheller : 1830, John Green. 

The Society have a very valuable library of about 400 volumes 
of works of professional use. 

The American Antiquarian Society. This institution, having 
for its object, the collection and preservation of materials for the 
history of the western continent, was founded by Isaiah Thomas, 
LL. D. In the preparation of his work on printing, he had 
gathered the relics of the departed centuries, with curious illustra- 
tions of the literature of former times, at an expense few antiqua- 
rians could have bestowed, and with diligence and care none other 
would have devoted. Feeling the good the experience of the past 
may convey to the future, it was his design to save the seeds of 
knowledge gathered in successive centuries, to yield their increase 
in those which may succeed : and by perpetuating the memorials of 
the present, to enable other generations to become wiser and happier 
by the experiments of their predecessors. Connecting with himself 
many friends of improvement and lovers of history, an association 
was formed by his exertions, incorporated by the Legislature of 
Massachusetts, Oct. 12, 1812. The centre building of Antiquarian 
Hall, erected at his expense, in 1820, with the land on which it 
stands, was presented by him to the society. The first volume of 
transactions, relating principally to the fortifications, mounds, and 
antiquities of the extinct nations of the west, was published, in 1820, 
at his charge. On his decease, by munificent bequests, he provided 
for the support of the institution he had established, and for the 
promotion of its great purposes. In the second volume of transac- 
tions, published in Sept. 1836, are inserted, an extended and pro- 
found dissertation on Indian history and languages, by Hon. Albert 
Gallatin, and the Memoir of the Christian Indians, by Daniel Goo- 
kin, so frequently referred to in former pages. The Library, esti- 
mated to contain 12,000 volumes, includes the collections of Mr. 
Thomas, a large portion of the books of the Mathers, many in the 
German language bequeathed by Dr. Bentley of Salem, avast mass 
of tracts and manuscripts, and the best series of American newspa- 



AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 325 

papers preserved in the country. There is a valuable cabinet illus- 
trative of antiquities and natural history. Two stated meetings of 
the society are held annually ; one in Boston, on the old election day 
in May ; the other for the election of officers, in Worcester, in Oc- 
tober, on the anniversary of the landing of Columbus. The num- 
ber of American members is limited to 140 ; many distinguished 
foreigners are enrolled on the catalogue by honorary elections. The 
funds, amounting to about 822,000, are appropriated to the support 
of a librarian, the purchase of books, the exploration of antiquities, 
and the other specific purposes designated by the munificent donor. 
The institution has been managed on the most liberal plan : its col- 
lections have been kept open to the public freely, and have been 
much frequented by strangers and scholars. 1 

Worcester Agricultural Society. This most excellent in- 
stitution was incorporated, Feb. 23, 181S. 2 At the first meeting, 
March 11, 1818, for the purpose of forming a fund to be sacredly 
appropriated for the promotion of agriculture, the contribution of 
five dollars was required from each member on admission. In 
December following, Levi Lincoln, Daniel Waldo, and Edward D. 
Bangs, were appointed a committee, to ask for legislative bounty, 
who°presented a petition at the next session. In consequence of 
this application, and other similar memorials, the Act of Feb. 20, 
1819, granted from the state treasury, to each agricultural society, 
$200 annually for six years, for every thousand dollars of funds they 
had raised ; with the limitation, that the sum thus drawn, should not 
exceed 8600 the year. The full amount of the munificent appro- 
priation of the government, since extended for a longer period, has 
been received by the association, and an amount nearly equal dis- 
tributed in premiums, or applied to the payment of necessary charg- 
es. The exhibitions of cattle and manufactures, in the month of 

! These officers have been elected : Presidents ; 1812, Isaiah Thomas : 1831, Thomas 
L Winthrop. Vice Presidents ; 1812, William D. Peck : 1813, William Pame : 1816, 
Aarou Bancroft, Timothy Bigelow : 1821, DeWit Clinton : 1828, Thomas L. Winthrop: 
1831 John Davis, Joseph Story. Treasurers ; 1813, Levi L.ncoln: 1814, Isaiah 
Thomas, jr. : 1819, Nathaniel Maccarty i 1829, Samuel Jennison. Corresponding Se- 
cretaries ; 1812, Thaddeus M. Harris : 1814, Samuel M. Burnside: 1816, Abiel Holmes: 
1826, William Lincoln, for domestic correspondence : 1832, Edward Everett, for 
foreign correspondence. 

The late C. C. Baldwin, was librarian from April 1832, to his death in August 1835. 
Maturin L. Fisher, has been acting librarian since that date. 

a Before the revolution, cattle fairs were held annually at Hardwick. The Shrews- 
bury Agricultural Society, and the Brookfield Association of Husbandmen, .preceded 
the society of the county. 



326 HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

October, beginning in 1S19, have been since continued with increas- 
ing interest. The festival has given one quiet spot among the con- 
flicts of excited times, where all sects and parties have met to unite 
their efforts for the common good. Addresses on these occasions 
have been delivered by the following gentlemen : 

Years. Years. 

1819. Levi Lincoln, 1828. William S. Hastings, 

1820. Lewis Bigelow, 1829. William Lincoln, 

1821. Jonathan Russell, 1830. Ira Barton, 

1822. Nathaniel P. Denny, 1831. Oliver Fiske, 

1823. Oliver Fiske, 1832. Waldo Flint, 

1824. Isaac Goodwin, 1833. Solomon Strong, 

1825. George A. Tufts, 1834. Charles Allen, 

1826. Emory Washburn, 1S35. Stephen Salisbury, 

1827. Pliny Merrick, 1836. James G. Carter. 

The amount of funds and of monies paid as premiums, in years 

ending with the annual meeting in April, are as follows : 

Years, 1320. 1826. 1827. 1828. 1829. 1830. 1831. 1832. 1833. 1834. 1835. 1836. 
Funds, $"2955 4636 4880 5100 5378 5739 6036 6645 6942 7352 7683 7938 
Premiums, #434 492 687 536 414 417 391 464 476 476 480 494 

The following officers have been elected ; Presidents, 1818, Levi 
Lincoln, sen : 1820, Daniel Waldo : 1824, Levi Lincoln : Treas- 
urer, 1818, Theophilus Wheeler : Cor. Secretaries, 1818, Levi Lin- 
coln : 1824, Oliver Fiske : Recording Secretaries, 1818, Abraham 
Lincoln : 1819, Edward D. Bangs : 1S23, William D. Wheeler ; 
1834, Charles G. Prentiss : 1836, Edwin Conant. 

The Worcester Historical Society, incorporated Feb. 19, 
1831, was formed for the purpose of collecting and preserving all 
materials necessary for compiling a full account of the history, sta- 
tistics, and geography of the county. It requires, as evidence of 
qualification for membership, the publication of some work, or some 
practical exertion in aid of these objects. Hon. John Davis has been 
president since the organization. 1 

1 The Centennial anniversary of the erection of Worcester county, was celebra- 
ted by this society Oct. 4, 1831. The first Court of Common Pleas was opened Aug. 10. 
1731 : and the Supreme Court of Judicature was held Sept. 22, 1731. It was deemed 
equally proper to commemorate either of the leading' events of the first year of the 
century. Having regard to the attendance of the citizens, and from other considera- 
tions, the first day of the session of the Supreme Judicial Court in 1831 was selected, 
and the centennial anniversary of the sitting of that tribunal was commemorated, on 
Tuesday, Oct. 4, although the date was not precisely coincident with the return of the 
judicial term. The Address was delivered by Hon. John Davis, and, with a particular 
account of the ceremonies, is deposited in the Am. Antiquarian Society's Collections. 



BANKS. INSURANCE. 327 

The Worcester County Atheneum, was incorporated, March 
12, 1830, with the intention of forming a full library for general 
use. Thirly four proprietors purchased shares, at the price of twen- 
ty five dollars each, subject to an annual assessment of two dollars. 
About 3000 volumes of works of general literature have been gath- 
ered, making a foundation for an extensive collection in future time. 
The library is now kept in one of the rooms of Antiquarian Hall, 
appropriated for the purpose. 

The Rev. George Allen has been President : Frederic W. Paine, 
Treasurer : and William Lincoln, Secretary, from the organization. 

The Worcester Bank, was originally incorporated with a cap- 
ital of 8200 000, March 7, 1804, and its charter has been renewed 
in 1811 and 1831. The first President was Daniel Waldo, sen. 
chosen 1804, who declined the office in October following, when 
Daniel Waldo was elected his successor, and has since been at the 
head of the institution. The Cashiers have been : 1804, Levi Thax- 
ter : 1806, Robert Breck Brigham : 1812, Samuel Jennison. 

The Central Bank, was incorporated March 12, 1828, with a 
capital of S100 000. Benjamin Butman was President to the au- 
tumn of 1836, when Thomas Kinnicutt was elected. The Cashiers 
have been ; 1828, Otis Corbett : 1829, George A. Trumbull : 1836, 
William Dickinson. 

The Quinsigamond Bank, chartered March 25, 1833, has a cap- 
ital of 8100 000. Its Presidents have been : 1833, Alfred D. Fos- 
ter : 1836, Isaac Davis. Charles A. Hamilton has been Cashier. 

The Citizens Bank was incorporated, April 9, 1836, with 
SoOO 000 capital, and went into operation in October following. 
Benjamin Butman is President, George A. Trumbull, Cashier, and 
Rhodes B. Chapman, Accountant. 

The Worcester Mutual Fire Insurance Company, was in- 
corporated, Feb. 11,1823. Its powers are vested in a president, 
treasurer, secretary, and eight directors, elected at the annual meet- 
ing on the second Wednesday of December. The following has 
been the succession of the principal officers : Presidents ; 1824, 
Rejoice Newton: 1831, Frederic W. Paine: Secretaries; 1824, 
Henry K. Newcomb, William D. Wheeler : 1S27, Isaac Goodwin : 
1832, Anthony Chase. 



328 



MUTUAL INSURANCE C031PANIES. 



Amt. each 

year. 


Total amt. 
insured. 


Premiums 
received. 


Expenses. 


Losses. 


Cash Funds. 


$153815 


$153815 


$2169 86 


$610 79 


— 


— 


179786 


333601 


2675 56 


392 65 


— 


— 


190304 


523906 


2845 00 


295 90 


— 


— 


135800 


659706 


2159 34 


394 60 


— 


— 


157643 


817350 


2374 71 


317 27 


$1800 


— 


188009 


1005359 


3190 28 


414 83 


415 


— 


180353 


1185712 


2880 86 


499 80 


2414 


— 


372352 


1404249 


4653 90 


637 49 


1000 


$15885 11 


478482 


1702994 


5973 43 


SOS 00 


325 


21991 80 


701933 


2214623 


9343 75 


935 35 


4850 


26400 24 


583449 


2662272 


8403 90 


838 80 


430 


34904 31 


778642 


3283270 


10750 62 


1132 40 


374 


46603 50 



The table below shows the extension and progress of its business. 

Years. 

1824. 
1825. 

1826. 
1827. 
1828. 
1829. 
1830. 
1831. 
1832. 
1833. 
1834. 
1835. 

As the association is formed for mutual security, and not for prof- 
it, there are strictly speaking no dividends. The average of amounts 
returned to the insurers on the expiration of policies, have been ; in 
1831, 774 cents of each dollar paid as premium : in 1832, 824 : in 

1833. 814 : in 1834, 834 : in 1835, 904. 

The Manufacturers Mutual Fire Insurance Company, 
founded on that principle of giving mutual security expressed by 
its name, was incorporated Feb. 25, 1834. Two millions of dollars 
were subscribed and are held as a fund, liable to assessment for loss- 
es. The company commenced business, Aug. 5, 1834, by issuing 
policies on the property of manufacturing establishments. By an 
act additional to the charter, the corporation were authorized to ef- 
fect insurance on buildings, public and private, except dwelling hous- 
es not connected with manufactories, within the United States. 

The statements below include the business of years ending Oct. 1. 

Years. Insured. Premiums. Expenses. Losses. Cash funds. 

1834. $331222 $3318 — — — 

1835. 2063301 22352 $3140 $6712 $16160 

1836. 5000000 48126 3016 19100 30686 
The dividends of returned premiums in 1835, were 554 : in 1836, 

654. The concerns are managed by a president, twelve directors, 
and a secretary. The former and latter have been these : Presi- 
dents ; 1834, David T. Brigham : 1835, Harvey Blashfield : Secreta- 
ries; 1834, Edward H. Hemenway : 1835, Samuel Allen. 

There is an agency of the Springfield Insurance Company in 
Worcester. 



SAVINGS INSTITUTION. 329 

The Worcester County Institution for Savings, was in- 
corporated February 8, and organized April 17, 1S2S. A presi- 
dent, secretary, treasurer, twelve vice presidents, and twenty four 
trustees, chosen at the annual meetings, have the general charge of 
the institution, and make examination of its concerns by monthly 
committees. The funds arc loaned and invested by aboard selected 
by the trustees. The statement annexed, shows the condition of 
this most useful institution in years terminating in April. 

1029. 1830, 1831. 1832. 1833. 1834. 1,835. 1836- 

Depositors, 105 251 400 678 913 1128 1442 1860 
Deposites, $6263 13645 32032 68994 109983 151797 202177 276388 

It appears from the annual returns made to the Secretary of the 
Commonwealth, that the whole expenses of the institution, during 
the current year, when the funds have increased to nearly $300000, 
were §641, only. From the commencement, not a dollar of the 
investments have been lost. 

Daniel Waldo has been President, and Samuel Jennison, Treas- 
urer, from the organization. Isaac Goodwin was Secretary to Au- 
gust, 1832, and William Lincoln has held that office since. 

The multitude of unchartered associations is too great for sepa- 
rate enumeration. There are societies for the promotion of sabbath 
schools; of temperance ; of missionary purposes ; of moral reform ; 
of education; of charity ; of science: there are others for mutual 
protection against the calamity of fire; for punishing depredations 
on orchards and gardens: for the prevention and detection of theft; 
for improvement in music, and for many other benevolent or useful 
purposes. Among these, the Bible Society and the Lyceum are 
probably the only ones requiring particular notice. 

The Auxiliary Bible Society was organized Sept. 7, 1815. 
The settled ministers of the gospel in the county, of every denom- 
ination, are entitled to membership ex officio. The payment of one 
dollar annually constitutes a member while the contribution is con- 
tinued, and often dollars gives the privileges for life. So well have 
the people of the county been supplied with the sacred scriptures, 
that during the first ten years of its existence, the society, furnishing 
the indigent in a population of about 80000 gratuitously, and seek- 
ing for those who were destitute, had distributed (inly 740 bibles, 
and 77 testaments. During this period, about £2000 had been col- 
lected. In 1822, the association having become a branch of the 
42 



330 WORCESTER LYCEUM. 

American Bible Society, paid over $500 in one sum, and subse- 
quently transferred to that noble institution a fund of $1000, which 
had been invested on interest. Within the last period often years, 
increased population and accessions of foreigners have rendered the 
distribution of the scriptures greater, and the better means and 
deeper interest of the charitable in the objects of the society swell- 
ed the donations. From the latest annual report which has been 
published it appears, that, for the year ending Oct. 1, 1834, the re- 
ceipts were $2353 : the amount paid to the national society for the 
purchase of books $334 : and as free gift $1722: the number of 
bibles issued were 267, of testaments G83. l 

Worcester Lyceum. This society was formed Nov. 4, 1S29, 
for mutual instruction and improvement. The management of the 
common concerns is confided to a president, treasurer, secretary, 
and an executive committee of eight members, elected by ballot, 
at the annual meeting, first held in November, and recently on the 
last Thursday in March. Lectures are delivered on each Thurs- 
day evening during the months from October to March. Occasional 
courses on the sciences, have been given by distinguished teachers. 
During the first years of the association, classes were formed among 
the members for acquiring practical knowledge, and their exercises 
were pursued with pleasure and benefit. 

Membership is gained by any person of good moral character, 
on the payment of one dollar, at the commencement of the year ; 
by those from eighteen to twenty one, on the annual contribution of 
seventy-five cents ; and any one between the ages of twelve and eigh- 
teen years, on the deposit of fifty cents, becomes entitled to all the 
advantages and means of improvement of the institution. 

The Lyceum is possessed of a good chemical apparatus, and a 
well selected library of about 500 volumes, beneficially and exten- 
sively used by the young artizans and operatives of the village. 
By a provision of the constitution, no alienation of the property is 
to be made : to secure its preservation during any suspension of the 
society, the selectmen are authorized to deposit the collections with 
some incorporated literary institution of the town, to be held in trust, 
and transferred to some new association for similar purposes. 

•The Presidents have been; 1815, Joseph Allen: 1822, Aaron Bancroft: 1824, 
Jonas Kendall: 1827, Levi Lincoln: 1831, John Davis. Treasurers, 1815, Benjamin 
Heywood: 1817, Samuel Allen : 1820, William Jennison : 1824, Charles Allen: 1830, 
Benjamin Butman. Secretaries, 1815, Nathaniel Thayer : 1818, Lemuel Capen ; 1819, 
Joseph Allen, of Northborough: 1829. George Allen : 18S2, Alfred D. Foster. 



MILITARY COMPANIES. 331 

The number of members in 1830, was 276: in 1831, 126; in 
832, 191 : 1833, 171 : in 1834, 181 ; in 1835, 190. But these 
lumbers do not indicate the attendance ; the great hall of the 
Cown House has been thronged with a continually increasing 
irowd : and the institution, sustained by popular favor, has been an 
:xample of the successful diffusion of learning by the cheapest 
>ossible medium of communication. 

The officers have been these : Presidents ; 1829, Jonathan Go- 
ng ; 1S32, John Park ; 1836, Alfred Dwight Foster. Secretaries; 
L829, Anthony Chase; 1832, Horatio L. Carter; 1833, Warren 
^azell. 

Military Companies. Soon after the garrisons of the first plan- 
ers, formed from the neighborhood, ceased to be kept, a military 
company was formed to act against the Indian enemies, who had 
mited themselves with the French, and retiring to a distance, made 
frequent invasions. Daniel Heywood was elected and long remain- 
ed captain. There are some slight traces of its existence, in 1725, 
but it cannot be certainly stated that it began so early. In 1760, 
there were two bodies of militia, one numbering 59, and the other 
48, under Capt. John Johnson and Capt. James Goodwin. 

About 1783, the Worcester Artillery was formed, of volunteers, 
and William Treadwell l elected Captain. This corps, the oldest 
of the martial associations of the town, is now commanded by Capt. 
Josiah G. Perry, and has two six pounders granted by the state for 
its use. 

The Independent Cadets, under Capt. Thomas Chandler, was 
formed during the war with France in 1798, and on its conclusion, 
was disbanded. 

The Worcester Light Infantry paraded for the first time, in May 
1804, under Captain Levi Thaxter. The commanding officers 
have been, Levi Thaxter, Enoch Flagg, William E. Green, Isaac 
Sturtevant, John W. Lincoln, Sewall Hamilton, John Coolidge, 

» Major William Treadwell. one of the most gallant of the officers of the army of the 
revolution, entered the service at an early age, and was distinguished for lion hearted 
courage. He had an enthusiastic love of danger. Twice, when his own division was 
at rest, he obtained leave of absence and joined another corps on the eve of battle. 
While the shot of the enemy strnck around him, the testimony of a cotemporary states, 
he would consider with the most deliberate coolness the direction of his own guns, look 
over the sights to give the best aim, and after the discharge, spring upon the cannon to 
see the effect. He retired, with honorable scars and rank, to a condition of poverty, 
that drove him to despair, and died, broken hearted, April 14, 1795, aged 46. 



332 NEWSPAPERS. 

Samuel Ward, Artemas Ward, John Whittemore, Charles A. Ham- 
ilton, William S. Lincoln, Charles H. Geer. 

The Worcester Rife Corps, established in 1823, was disbanded 
in 1835. 

The numbers doing duty in volunteer companies during 1835 and 
1836, has been about 50 : there are two large companies of militia 
with a force of more than 200 men. 

NEWSPAPERS AND PERIODICALS. 

The Massachusetts Spy, established in Boston by Isaiah Thom- 
as, in July, 1770, was first issued in Worcester, May 3, 1775, and 
has preserved the series of its numbers unbroken to the sixty fifth 
volume and year of its existence, having long since reached the 
venerable rank of the oldest paper in Massachusetts, where the prin- 
ting of newspapers began. Daniel Bigelow and William Stearns, 
two gentlemen of the legal profession, became lessees, June 27, 1776 : 
finding the labors inconsistent with their appropriate business, they 
transferred the right of publication to Anthony Haswell, afterwards 
conductor of the Vermont Gazette, Aug. 14, 1777. The press was 
resumed by Mr. Thomas in June, 1778, and retained until 1802, 
when it was resigned to Isaiah Thomas, Jr. After some changes 
of ownership, in 1819, it was purchased by William Manning and 
George A. Trumbull, and in 1823, John Milton Earle became ed- 
itor, and has since continued the principal or sole proprietor. 

The Massachusetts Herald or Worcester Journal, a 
small paper of four quarto pages, was issued by Isaiah Thomas, Sept. 
6, 1783, and intended by the publisher, as a Saturday abridgment of 
his larger sheet. The advertisement states 'that if it should fail of 
being properly nurtured by the public, it will, as it is a rib taken 
from the Spy, he again replaced, without murmur or complaint.' 
Public patronage did not sustain the undertaking, and it was aban- 
doned after the fourth number. 

American Herald and Worcester Recorder. The Herald, 
which had been published in Boston during seven preceding years, 
was removed to Worcester, Aug. 21, 1788, and issued on Thursdays, 
by Edward Eveleth Powers, who united the trade of a bookseller with 
that of printer. The paper was decorated with an agricultural de- 
vice, and bore the motto, ' venerate the plough '; professed perfect 
impartiality in politics; promised intelligence in rural economy; 



NEWSPAPERS. 333 

and was marked by no distinct character : after two years and two 
months, it was discontinued. 

The Independent Gazetteer, the fourth newspaper of Wor- 
cester, was commenced Jan. 7, 1800, and published by Nahum 
Mower, and Daniel Greenleaf, until the 7th of October succeeding, 
when the partnership of the proprietors was dissolved, and the pub- 
lication was continued by the latter, through two years. When this 
period was completed, the list of subscribers was transferred to the 
conductor of the Spy. 

The National vEgis, was established in support of the policy of 
Mr. Jefferson, amid the fiercest warfare of the great parties organized 
at the commencement of the present century. Subscriptions were 
obtained among the ardent politicians in the vicinity and in Boston, 
amounting to about 81200, for the purchase of a press and printing 
materials. 1 Proposals, bearing internal evidence of the authorship of 
Hon. Francis Blake, were sent out Sept. 8, 1801, detailing the plan 
afterwards executed in spirited manner by himself and others ; the 
paper was to be devoted to the defence of the national administra- 
tion, and unceasing opposition to its enemies ; the last page, called 
' the Olio,' was assigned as a separate department for literary essays, 
and selections. The first number appeared Dec. 2, 1S01. Deriving its 
name from the arms of Minerva, the front exhibited the figure of the 
mythologic goddess of wisdom, grasping the spear in one hand, and 
resting the other on the shield, bearing the device of the gorgon's 
head, wreathed with olive branches. Mr. Blake, as editor, gave 
high character to the print, and many of the ablest writers of the 
county cooperated with its gifted conductor, to influence and di- 
rect public sentiment. This arrangement continued until 1804, 
when Mr. Blake retired, In December, 1805, the whole property 
was attached under a claim growing out of debts of the printer, 
Samuel Cotting, and the publication suspended. The democratic 
citizens, roused to exertion, procured new apparatus, which they 
vested in trustees, and the J^gis again appeared, Feb. 19, 180G, in 
deplorable dishabille for a time, but soon regained neatness and beau- 
ty. A new calamity occurred to interrupt its prosperity. On Sun- 
day the 6th of July, during the hours of worship, a part of the types 
were removed, and the sheets, impressed on one side, carried away by 

1 Among the subscriptions were these : Benjamin Austin, $150 : James Sullivan, $100: 
.James Prince, $100: Jonathan L. Austin, $100: Levi Lincoln, sen. $100: William 
Eustis, $45 : William Jarvis, $45. 



334 NEWSPAPERS. 

Cotting, who, on the next Wednesday, in his individual capacity, 
sent out the paper in handsome form, while the trustees of the 
subscription fund were scarcely able to communicate their misfor- 
tune. A curious state followed, realizing the confusion of external 
identity, imagined in the Comedy of Errors. Two papers were 
published in the same town, on the same day, claiming to be ' the 
true yEgis.' A contest painful to retrace ensued, disturbing the re- 
pose of the village; proceeding almost from words to blows in private 
discussion, and furnishing subjects for judicial investigation. The 
good sense of the community, for a time amused by the bitter feel- 
ing of the combatants, and the personal insult degrading pages which 
should have been devoted to common improvement, at length, acted 
on the source of the commotion, and after a few months of infamous 
existence, the false print disappeared. 

After some changes, the ^Egis, in 1807, went into the hands of 
Henry Rogers, then late of Hartford, who was publisher until the 
close of 1824, when Charles Griffin became partner with him. In 
July, 1833, it was united with the Yeoman, and became merged with 
that print not long after. x 

The Massachusetts Yeoman was commenced Sept. 3, 1823, 
by Austin Denny, Esq. who continued to be sole or principal editor, 
proprietor, and publisher, until his decease. It was issued on Satur- 
day. In July, 1833, it was united with the /Egis, and in January fol- 
lowing, the title was changed and the existence of the paper ceased. 

The Worcester Republican was established in 1829, by Jubal 
Harrington, and has been under the management of that gentleman, 
except during short intervals. 

The Worcester Palladium succeeded to the ^Egis and Yeo- 
man. It was commenced in January, 1834, and has continued un- 
der the editorial care of Mr. J. S. C. Knowlton. 

1 Among the editors of the ^Egis, at different periods, were Francis Blake, Edward 
Bangs, Levi Lincoln, Samuel Brazer, William Charles White, Enoch Lincoln, Edward 
D. Bangs, Pliny Merrick, William Lincoln, Christopher C. Baldwin, William N. Green. 

A paper borrowing its descriptive appellation from the worst of reptiles, the Scorpi- 
on, came out July 2C>, 1809, and on successive Wednesdays, without the name of printer 
or publisher, resembling those abusive periodicals serving as safety valves to convey 
away the fermenting malignity of base hearts. Its existence was evidence of the un- 
limited freedom of the press, and ks speedy suppression, an instance of the power of 
public opinion to restrain its licentiousness, and of the healthy tone of moral sentiment 
amid the violence of party hostility, crushing the slanderer under the weight of general 
contempt. 



PERIODICALS. 335 

The Worcester Weekly Magazine. An act of* Massachusetts, 
March, 1785, imposing a duty of two thirds of a penny on newspa- 
pers, and a penny on almanacs, which were to he stamped, was so 
unpopular from its very name, that it was repealed before it went 
into operation, and as a substitute, for the purposes of revenue, a tax 
was levied oil all advertisements inserted in the public journals. This 
was regarded by Mr. Thomas as an undue restraint on the press. 
He suspended the publication of the Spy during the two years the 
act was in force, and printed a periodical in octavo form, with the 
name at the head of this article, beginning in the first week of April, 
1786, and ending the fourth volume on the last of March 1788. 

The Worcester Magazine and Historical Journal, was 
published by William Lincoln and Christopher C. Baldwin, in 1825 
and 1820 : the numbers of the first volume were issued twice a 
month, and those of the second once a month : It was intended to 
contain a particular history of each town of the county. Notices 
of Templeton, Sterling, Shrewsbury, Leicester, Northborough, 
West Boylston, Paxton, and Lancaster, and a general view of Wor- 
cester county, were furnished by different writers. At the expira- 
tion of a year the work was discontinued. 

The Worcester Talisman, a literary and miscellaneous journal, 
consisting principally of selections, was published on Saturday, du- 
ring the year after April 5, 1828, on an octavo sheet, forming one 
volume, by Messrs. Dorr and Howland, and was continued to Oct. 
15, 1829, in quarto form, by John Milton Earle. 

The Family Visitor, a religious quarto, was published weekly 
by Moses W. Grout during a few months of 1832 ; but was soon dis- 
continued. 1 

1 Printing was formerly carried on by Isaiah Thomas to an extent, which, relatively to 
the general state of business at the period, was immense, and would be considered as 
great, even in comparison with the rapid publication of recent years. Seven of his 
presses were worked under his immediate direction, and the number of persons employ- 
ed by him, in paper making, printing, binding, and the branches of bookmaking and sel- 
ling, was about 150. There are in 1836, four printing offices. 

The books belonging to the societies and associations, number about 20,000 volumes : 
probably those in private libraries would exceed 50,000 volumes. 

The number of newspapers and periodicals circulated in the town, is greater than the 
whole amount printed in the state before the revolution. In no community are the fa- 
cilities of instruction and information greater ; and there can be few where they are bet- 
ter improved. 



336 



TOPOGRAPHY AND HISTORY. 



CHAPTER X VII. 

Situation. Boundaries. Extent. Divisions. Streets and Roads. Turnpikes'. 
Black-stone Canal. Rail Roads. Public Buildings. Public Lands. Burial Places. 
Face of the Town. Ponds. Streams. Hills, fllines and Minerals. 

Situation. Worcester, the shire town of the county, is situated 
40 miles westward from Boston, 40 N. N. W. from Providence, GO 
miles E. N. E. from Hartford, about 50 miles from Northampton, 
the nearest point on Connecticut river, and 394 from Washington. 
From the boundary of New Hampshire, in the shortest direction, the 
town is distant about 30 miles ; from that of New York, about 70 ; 
from Rhode Island, about 20 ; from the tide waters of Boston Har- 
bor, about 40 miles. Lines drawn on the map, intersecting each 
other at Worcester, Boston, and Providence, would form a triangle 
almost equilateral. The north latitude of Antiquarian Hall, ascer- 
tained by Robert Treat Paine, Esq. is 42° 16' 9" : the west longitude, 
computed from observation on the annular eclipse of the sun in Feb- 
ruary, 1831, by that gentleman, in degrees, is 71°, 49', in time, 4h. 
47m. 16s. 

The elevation above the ocean, as estimated by the engineer of 
the Blackstone Canal, at Thomas street, near the centre of the vil- 
lage, is 451 feet : the elevation of Main street above Charles street 
in Boston, is stated by Mr. Fessenden at 456 feet. 

Boundaries and Extent. The town is bounded, on the North 
principally by Holden, touching at the northwest corner on Paxton, 
and at the northeast extremity of the line, on West Boylston ; 
East by West Boylston and Shrewsbury, and for a short distance 
at the southeast corner by Grafton : South, by Millbuty and Ward : 
West, by Leicester, and at the southwest corner borders on Ward. S 

The area contained within these lines, is about thirty six square 
miles ; or more exactly, 22842 acres : about 600 acres are covered 
with water ; 700 used for roads ; 1925 are estimated to be occu- 



DIVISIONS. 337 

pied as tillage ; 5683 as mowing ; 10262 as pasture ; 3730 with wood ; 
and about 1000 are unimproved. 

Divisions. The town is separated into twelve school districts, 
having permanent boundaries : the centre is marked 1 : directly 
west is that designated 2 : next south of this is 3 : the others are 
numbered in regular succession, circling around the centre district, 
with the exception of 12, which was formed by partition of an orig- 
inal district, and lies between those distinguished as 9 and 10, dis- 
turbing the symmetry of the arrangement. 

The principal village, so surrounded by hills that it is scarcely 
seen by the stranger until he enters its streets, has extended but lit- 
tle south of the territorial centre on which the founders seem to have 
designed it should be planted. The description of Dr. Dwight, x 
about 1812, has not ceased to be correct : ' the houses are general- 
ly well built : frequently handsome : and very rarely small, old, or 
unrepaired. Few towns in New England exhibit so uniform an ap- 
pearance of neatness and taste, or contain so great a proportion of 
good buildings, and so small a proportion of those which are indif- 
ferent, as Worcester.' 

Villages have grown up around the manufacturing establishments. 
i\ T «/> Worcester is situated on the road to Leicester : Troivbriclgcville, 
on the road to Oxford : South M'urccster on that leading to Ward : the 
Quinsigamond Village on the Millbury road : Adams Square upon 
the old road to Lancaster : Northville on the road to West Boylston. 

Streets. The most ancient passage way through the town is 
Main street, used in 1674, and constantly travelled over since 1713. 
It is still the principal avenue of the town, extending about a mile 
from north to south. It is broad and planted with fine shade trees. 2 

Nearly cotemporary with the permanent settlement, was the es- 
tablishment by use, of a road from the Meeting House to Pine mead- 
ow, now Front street ; of a path to the first burial place, over a 

1 Dwight's Travels, i. 366. Letter xxxvi. 
2 The time when these beautiful ornaments of the village were first set, appears from 
an ordinance for t heir protection, April 7, 1733 : ' Whereas, a number of persons have 
manifested a disposition to set out trees for shade, near the meeting house, and else- 
. where about the centre of the town, and the town, being very desirous of encouraging 
such a measure, which will be beneficial as well as ornamental, Voted, that any person 
being an inhabitant of this town, who shall injure or destroy such trees so set out, shall 
pay a fine not exceeding 20s. for every offence to the use of the poor.' Other and more 
strict municipal regulations have from time to time been adopted for their preservation. 

43 



338 STREETS. TURNPIKES. 

part of Summer street ; and the Lancaster way, through Lincoln 
street. The roads now Salisbury, Pleasant, Green, and Grafton 
streets, existed at a very early period. 

Mechanic street was laid out in 1787. In 1806, Isaiah Thomas 
made and gave to the inhabitants the street called by his name. It 
was planted through its whole length with poplars, perhaps fortunate- 
ly destroyed, soon after, by some malicious person. 1 

Most of the other streets have been opened within the last five or 
six years by individuals at their private expense, as the increasing 
population has rendered it desirable to occupy their lands for buil- 
dings. 

The length of roads within the town in 1826, was equal to 82 
miles and SS rods. At present the extent would exceed 1G0 miles. 

Turnpikes. At the beginning of the century, great improve- 
ments were made in internal communication by the establishment 
of these highways. A corporation was chartered for building a 
turnpike to Stafford, in Connecticut, Feb. 15, 1806 : and March 
17, 1806, the Worcester turnpike was incorporated. It was a fa- 
vorite principle with the engineers of that time, that roads must be 
carried on a straight line between the points to be connected, with- 
out any deviation from the direct course to conform to the undula- 
tion of the surface. On this plan, the turnpike to Boston, going out 
from the north end of the village, went through a considerable em- 
inence by a deep cutting, passed a deep valley on a lofty embank- 
ment, ascended the steep slope of Millstone hill, crossed Quinsig- 
amond by a floating bridge, and climbed to some of the highest el- 
evations of the country it traversed, when inconsiderable circuit 
would have furnished better and less costly route. These under- 
takings, of great convenience and utility in the period of their con- 
struction, have been more beneficial to the public than the proprie- 
tors. 

The Worcester and Fitzwilliam Turnpike, incorporated June 

1 The following memoranda from the interleaved almanacs of Isaiah Thomas, Esq. 
show something of the customs of the time. ' J 806. October 6. Finished work on the 
new street. The selectmen came and surveyed it and laid it out in form. The Light 
Infantry company, under arms, commanded by Capt. Flagg, marched through it, halt- 
ed on the bridge, and discharged three vollies. The gentlemen of the street prepared 
a large tub and two pails full of excellent punch, and the selectmen, at the request of 
those present, and in conformity to their own proposal, named the street Thomas street. 
The Infantry company had as much punch as they chose to drink, aud all present. 
Three cheers were given, and the company marched off.' 



BLACKSTONE CANAL. 



339 



5, 1805, was not completed : the Worcester and Sutton, March 
!, IS 10, and Worcester and Leicester, Feb. 29, 1812, were not com- 
nenced. 

Blackstone Canal. The project of opening a navigable com- 
nunication from the waters of Narragansett bay in Rhode Island, to 
he centre of Massachusetts, through the valley of the Blackstone, 
irst engaged public attention in 1796. The author and patron of one 
»f the earliest attempts to connect the interior with the seaboard, by 
i water highway, was the late John Brown, of Providence. The 
vhole weight of his wealth, intelligence, and zeal, were lent to the 
snterprise. Public meetings were held, and warm interest in the 
indertaking excited. In Rhode Island, a charter was obtained, 
rhe petition of inhabitants of Worcester county, praying for incor- 
joration for the opening of ' inland navigation from the navigable 
,vaters near Providence, to the interior parts of Worcester county, 
ind if feasible, to Connecticut river,' was presented at the May ses- 
sion of the General Court of the Commonwealth, in 179G. At the 
same time, a counter plan, which had the effect, if not the intent, of 
lefeating the former, was started, of constructing a canal from Bos- 
;on to the Connecticut river ; the application for the Providence ca- 
lal was refused, and the projectors, left without power to execute 
;he work, were compelled to abandon the undertaking. Surveys 
>vere soon after made for the Massachusetts Canal, under the direc- 
tion of Gen. Henry Knox, and with their conclusion terminated the 
exertions of the subscribers. 

In 1S22, by a general movement, the plan was revived and sub- 
scriptions opened for a survey, completed in October, of the same 
year. Acts of incorporation were obtained for distinct companies 
in each state, subseqently united, July 5, 1825, under the name of 
the Blackstone Canal Company. In 1824, the excavation was com- 
menced in Rhode Island ; in 1826, the first earth was removed in 
Massachusetts, near Thomas street. The first boat which passed 
through the whole extent, arrived at the upper basin, Oct. 7, 1S28. 

Three Commissioners had been elected in each state, acting in 
cooperation during the construction : on the union, the same gen- 
tlemen were elected on one board : they were Edward Carrington, 
Moses B. Ives, and Stephen H. Smith of Providence, John Davis, 
John W. Lincoln, and Sylvanus Holbrook of Massachusetts. For 
some time past, Thomas Burgess has had the sole direction. The ex- 
pense of the work was about 6750,000. Of this amount more than 



340 RAIL ROADS. 

half a million of dollars was paid by the citizens of Rhode Island, 
and the work, projected by the intelligence was principally executed 
by the capital of our sister state. 

The canal has been more useful to the public, than to the owners : 
the amount of transportation, however, has increased. 

The Boston and Worcester Rail Road was incorporated, 
June 23, 1831. The road, extending 44 miles eastward, is laid 
with a single track of edge rails, on cast iron chairs, restino- on 
wooden sleepers, bedded in trenches filled with stone. The cost 
of construction has been $ 1500000, including land, labor, cars, 
engines, and buildings. Passenger cars, go in each direction, 
three times daily during the warm months, and twice in the cold 
season, except on Sundays. The time is from 2i to 3 hours, inclu- 
ding stops at ten places : the fare has been $1 50, but in the autumn 
of 183G, was raised to 82. The freight of merchandize from Bos- 
ton to Worcester, by the ton, is 83 50 : from Worcester to Boston 
$3. A branch rail road is soon to be laid to Millbury. 

About a mile from the depot on Main street, the road passes 
through a deep cutting of the slate rock about 30 feet in its greatest 
depth, and extending about 30 rods. The strata are almost per- 
pendicular, and were removed from their beds by a laborious pro- 
cess of blasting. 

The Norwich and Worcester Rail Road Company was 
incorporated March 26, 1833. A charter had been previously ob- 
tained in Connecticut, for the route within her jurisdiction, at the 
May session, 1S32. By an act of this Commonwealth, April 10, 
and of that state, May 1836, the two companies were united. From 
Norwich to Worcester is 53 miles : to Boston 102. The work of 
construction is now advancing. The capital stock is 81500000. 

The Western Rail Road Corporation was established, March 
15, 1833, for the purpose of building a rail road from the western 
termination of the Boston and Worcester Rail Road to Connecti- 
cut River in Springfield, and thence across the stream to the wes- 
tern boundary of the state, where it will connect with rail roads in 
progress, one to Albany, one to Troy, and one to Hudson. The 
stock of 83000000 has been subscribed, two thirds by individu- 
als, and one third by the state, and a portion of the road located. 

1 A statement of the amount of transportation by the Canal and Rail Road, will be 
found in the appendix. 



PUBLIC BUILDINGS. 341 

Public Buildings. It is a curious circumstance that the earli- 
est provision for the erection of any county building, in a commu- 
nity of moral, orderly, and religious habits, should relate to the con- 
finement of malefactors. 

At the first meeting of the Court of General Sessions of the 
Peace, Sept. 2, 1731, it was ordered, that a prison should be built, 
and that, with his consent, the house of William Jennison, 1 should 
be used as a temporary gaol : a suitable cage was to be built in the 
back part, and the liberties of the yard were to extend 20 feet on 
the south side and east end. 

In February following, the court ordered, ' that in lieu of the pris- 
on before appointed, the cage so called, already built, be removed 
to the chamber of the house of Daniel Hey wood, 2 and be the gaol 
until the chamber be suitably finished for a gaol, and then the cham- 
ber be the gaol for the county, and the cage remain as one of the 
apartments.' Here the prisoners were confined until they were 
placed in the building, erected in 1733, 3 41 feet long, 18 feet wide, 
with 8 feet studs : the prison part was 18 feet square, made of white 
oak timber, set with studs, 4 inches thick and 5 inches broad, and 
floored, roofed and ceiled with two inch plank spiked together. A 
dungeon was storied under : the other end, finished as a dwelling 
house, became part of the Butman tavern, and was destroyed by fire 
Dec. 23, 1824. 

In 1753, a new gaol was built a few rods south of the former pris- 
on, 38 feet long, 2S feet wide, with 7 feet posts. The south end 
was studded with joist six inches square, set five inches apart, and 
filled between with stone and mortar. The top, sides, and floor, 
were covered inside and out, with oak plank, fastened with a pro- 
fuse use of iron spikes, and doors, windows, and partitions were heav- 
ily grated. 

Notwithstanding these precautions for security, many effected 
escape, and the wooden gaol becoming too infirm for the confinement 
of dangerous persons, a structure of massive granite, 64 by 32 feet, 
three stories in height, was ordered to be erected in Dec. 1784, on 
land granted by the Commonwealth, and .£500 were appropriated 
for the expense. This was completed Sept. 4, 1788, and Mr. Thom- 
as remarks, ' this is judged to be at least the second stone building 
of consequence in the Commonwealth ; none being thought superior 

• Occupied by Dr. Oliver Fiske in 1836. 2 Part of the buildings of the Central Hotel. 
3 On land of Stephen Salisbury, Esq. east of the south extremity of Lincoln street. 



342 COURT HOUSE. 

except the Stone Chapel in Boston: that is built of hewn stone ; 
the stones of this are mostly as they were taken from the quarry. 
The master workman, Mr. John Parks of Groton, has acquired great 
credit for the ingenuity and fidelity with which he has executed the 
work. A great saving must be experienced from the new building, 
as, without some convulsion of nature, it is not probable that it will 
need any repairs, excepting the roof, for two or three centuries.' 
And he adds ' that the capaciousness of the building will make it 
answer for a work house, and save the county the expense of erect- 
ing one.' 

The course of nature went on undisturbed, but the increase of 
crime and the improvements of discipline, prevented the permanen- 
cy which was expected by the founders. The ' capaciousness ' was 
insufficient for modern use, and in April 1835, the gaol was transfer- 
red to the House of Correction : the land and buildings were sold, 
and the prison demolished. 

Court Houses. It was ordered, August 8, 1732, that a suitable 
and convenient court house be built on land given by William Jen- 
nison, Esq. and a committee was instructed to inform those 'who 
had an interest in lands in the county, and especially in the town of 
Worcester, which, by that town's being made the shire town, are 
greatly advanced, of the court's intention; and to know what any of 
them, will be pleased to give towards building and adorning the house.' 
This building, placed very near the site of the present edifice, was 
of wood, 36 feet long, 26 feet wide, with 13 feet posts. Until its 
completion, courts were held in the meeting house. The address of 
Chief Justice John Chandler, of Woodstock, delivered Feb. S, 1734, 
at the opening of the Courts of General Sessions and Common 
Pleas, published in the Boston Weekly Reheasal, Feb. IS, 1734, 
shows the ideas of beauty and magnificence entertained in that pe- 
riod. 

Taking occasion to speak from ' some instances of the Divine 
Providence remarkably favorable to us,' he says, ' It demands our 
observation and acknowledgment, .... that we are now entered 
into a new and beautiful house, erected purposely for the reception 
and entertainment of the courts, which for the future are to be held 
within the same, at the occurring seasons thereof: an article that 
I know not the like in any county within this province, so soon af- 
ter the constitution thereof, it being but about thirty months since 
we held our first court.' .... ' It is our duty on this occasion, 



COURT HOUSE. 343 

.... very thankfully to acknowledge the good hand of God's Prov- 
idence upon us, who has stirred up and opened the hearts of sundry 
worthy gentlemen, some of whom live in other parts of the province, 
to be benefactors to us, by assisting us in our infant state to erect 
and beautify so agreeable a house as we are in the possession of, and 
which exceeds so many others in the province built for the like ser- 
vice, in the capaciousness, regularity, and workmanship thereof: so 
that those who have business to be transacted here, may now and 
henceforth, be suitably and conveniently accommodated with room, 
while they attend the courts, without intruding on that which we have 
been necessitated to use hitherto, though designedly built for anoth- 
er purpose. To God, be the glory ascribed, as the unmerited effects 
of the Divine Favor to us: notwithstanding which, our benefactors 
and their benefactions, should be very gratefully remembered by us.' 

After a kw years, the edifice thus commemorated, was found to be 
too small for the purposes of its erection, and a new court house 
was ordered to be built March 16, 1751, of greater dimensions. It 
was 36 feet by 40 in size, and after being the temple of justice forty 
years, was converted into a dwelling house, and still stands at the in- 
tersection of Franklin and Green streets. 

The increasing business of the county requiring larger accommo- 
dations, the present court house was commenced in 1801 and open- 
ed Sept. 27, 1803. l The lower story is appropriated for county of- 
fices : the next contains the court room and lobbies for jurors. 

The following inscription on a silver plate inclosed in a leaden 

1 In the charge of Chief Justice Robert Treat Paine, Sept. 27, 1803, to the grand ju- 
ry , he says, ' We meet you with great pleasure at this first opportunity of our assembling 
with you to attend the administration of justice within the walls of this magnificent 
building. On this occasion, we can but recollect what has been said, that when the pro- 
posal, in 1731, was made, in General Court, for erecting this County, some great 
politician of that day, [Gov. Hutchinson,] objected to it, because, from the then ap- 
pearance of the country, it must be a great length of time before it would be an object 
for county jurisdiction ; and that there are some now, who well remember when the 
territory which composes this county, was, in many parts, but thinly inhabited, and but 
just emerging from a wilderness state of uncultivated roughness : and until our happy 
revolution took place, its appearance was but small in comparison of what we now be- 
hold. The grandeur of this building is a striking proof of that prosperity of the inhab- 
itants, which flowed from the fruitful fountain, the revolution, and the good government 
and wholesome laws consequent upon it. And we also, can but consider it as strong 
evidence of the good disposition of the inhabitants, respecting social and political regu- 
lations ; of their determination to support the constitution and government of this Com- 
monwealth and the due administration of justice among them ; seeing they have made 
such ample provision therefor. May these walls remain consecrated to the pure admin- 
istration of Justice; here may the injured always find redress, the oppressed be reliev- 
ed, and the disturbers of public peace and welfare be brought to condign punishment.' 



344 HOUSE OF CORRECTION. 

box, with several ancient silver coins of Massachusetts, (shillings 
and sixpences,) and some modern money, was deposited in a cavity 
cut for the purpose in the lower corner stone of the hewn under- 
pinning on the south east. 

' The corner stone was laid Oct. 1, 1801, by Isaiah Thomas, Esq. 
who with William Caldwell, Esq. Sheriff of the County, and Hon. 
Salem Towne, were appointed a committee for building and com- 
pleting this (now intended) Court House. The old Court House 
now stands two feet southeast from this spot, 1801.' 

William Lancaster of Boston, was employed as master workman 
of the exterior, and Mr. Baxter, of the interior. 

The cost of the court house, furniture for the public offices, and 
brick walls of the yard, with a part of the stone walls, iron railings, 
and embankments in front, was 81*830: an additional allow- 
ance was made to Mr. Baxter, and the whole charges when com- 
pleted were about 820000. 

The County House of Correction, first occupied in November 
1819, is situated east of the village, and not far from the Hospital. 
The front of the building, a large and handsome structure 53 by 27 
feet, is occupied by the keeper's family, except the north side of the 
basement, where 3 cells are appropriated for solitary imprisonment, 
and the punishment of the refractory, fortunately but little used. 
The part used for confinement is in the rear of the keeper's apart- 
ments. The plan of construction first adopted was found to be 
bad : the rooms were large, and several convicts were, from neces- 
sity, placed together : so that sometimes, novices in crime were as- 
sociated with veteran offenders, and the establishment, with all vigi- 
lance and fidelity of supervision, was more the nursery of vice than 
the school of reformation. Impressed with the evils of this arrange- 
ment, the County Commissioners, in 1832, directed an alteration in 
conformity with a plan submitted by the Overseers, resembling that 
of the State's Prison in Charlestown. The whole interior was 
taken down, and another building erected within the exterior walls, 
divided into 40 cells, each 7 feet by 3 1-2 feet in size, 7 feet high, 
receiving light through iron doors properly made for the purpose, 
opening into the area around, which is warmed by stoves. In the 
basement are three other rooms for confinement, and on the same 
floor with the kitchen is the sleeping apartment of the assistant keep- 
er, placed so as to afford him inspection of the area in front of the 
cells, and security from injury by the prisoners in case of revolt. 



LUNATIC HOSPITAL. 345 

In April 1835, a part of the building was appropriated for the 
county gaol ; and the two upper stories of cells, with the rooms 
nbove and below the kitchen, wen; occupied for that purpose. A 
brick building, 40 feet by 10, in the yard, connected with the house, 
furnishes work shops in the two lower stories : the third story, having 
Grooms, is used for the confinement of females. There is, also a 
wooden building, which has been used for working stone. By a 
recent order of the County Commissioners, all persons confined in 
the House of Correction, able to labor, are to be constantly employ- 
ed according to their ability : if not acquainted with any mechanic 
trade, they work at the shoe business. Under this system, it is prO^» 
able, the convicts wiil not only be able to remunerate the expense/ 
of their support, but may form habits of industry and derive moral 
improvement. 

The following statement shows the condition of the House of 
Correction during years, each ending in November. 





1833. 


1834. 


1835. 


133G 


Committed for crime, 


5 


15 


11 


14 


for correction, 


58 


57 


62 


5S 


Discharged in the year, 


48 


54 


58 


63 


Remaining Nov. 1 , 


15 


18 


17 


21 



Among those now in the establishment, are 3 lunatics sent from 
the hospital, and 5 insane persons supported there by their friends 
with the consent of the Commissioners. 

John F. Clark has been keeper from the commencement : Nathan 
Heard and John W. Lincoln, are overseers. 

Lunatic Hospital. This monument of the enlightened chari- 
ty of the government of the state, is situated on a beautiful eminence 
eastward of the town. The buildings of the west front, erected in 
1831, consist of a centre, 76 feet long, 40 feet wide, and four stories 
high, projecting 22 feet forward of the wings which extend to the 
north and south ninety feet each on the front and 103 feet in the rear, 
are 36 feet wide, and three stories high. This arrangement was 
adopted, so as to secure free communication with the central struc- 
ture, occupied by the superintendent, steward, attendants, and do- 
mestics, and to permit the ventilation and lighting of the long halls 
reaching through the wings. The ranges of apartments for the in- 
sane, 8 feet by JO, have each a window, with the upper sash of cast 
iron and lower sash ol wood, both glazed ; on the exterior of the 
wooden sash is a false sash of iron, corresponding in its appearance 
44 



346 CHURCHES. 

and dimension?, but firmly set into the frame, giving the reality of 
a grate without its gloomy aspect. In 1835, a building 134 feet 
in length and 34 feet in width was attached to the southern extrem- 
ity of the hospital, of equal height, and extending eastward at right 
angles with the front ; in 183(5, another edifice of the same 
magnitude, was placed at the north end. Three sides of a great 
square are now enclosed by these immense structures of brick. Pro- 
vision is made for the diffusion of heat, the circulation of air, the 
supply of water ; and the most judicious regulations promote the 
health and comfort of the inmates. 

In this hospital, those are placed under restraint by public 
authority, who are so furiously mad, that their liberty would en- 
danger the safety of the community. To feel its value, one must 
have heard the chained maniacs howling in the dungeons of the 
common gaols, in frantic excitement and hopeless misery, and seen 
the quiet of the great establishment where the insane receive every 
alleviation of their mental diseases, which fit accommodations, re- 
medial treatment, and high skill can bestow. 

The institution has been under the superintendence of Dr. Sam- 
uel B. Woodward since its commencement. Its statistics are fully 
detailed in the reports annually made by the Trusteees to the Legis- 
lature. 

Churches. The first house appropriated for public worship, was 
built like the log huts of the planters, and placed near the intersec- 
tion of Green street by Franklin street, about 1717. 

In 1719, a meeting house was built, under a contract with Mr. 
Constable, as architect, on the site of the present South Church. 
It was of respectable dimensions, but had no tower. At first, the 
area of the interior, floored, but otherwise unfinished, was occupied 
by benches. In 1723, a pulpit was set up, and the space divided 
into long seats ; and soon after, galleries were provided. In 1733, 
it was voted ' that the front of the gallery, the pulpit, and pillars, 
be colored and varnished, and the outside of the doors and windows ; 
and the town thankfully accepts the £S offered by Col. Chandler, 
towards the same ; and being informed that Daniel Gookin, Esq. 
has been pleased to say, he would give something to said work, vo- 
ted, that a committee be desired to know of him what he will give 
towards said coloring and varnishing.' In 1743 a spire was erected. 

In 1703 the Old South Muting Huase, was built, 70 feet long, 
55 feet wide, with 28 feet posts, at the expense of .£1542. There 



CHURCHES. 347 

were Gl square pews on the lower floor. That esteemed the best, 
on the west side of the pulpit, and directly under it, valued at =£9, 
was assigned to Hon. John Chandler, as an acknowledgment of his 
donation of £4,0 towards erecting the church. The highest price 
paid for pews was £9> the lowest £<! 10s. In front of the pulpit, 
were two long pews, one for the deacons, the other for aged per- 
sons : and along the head of the central aisle, were seven slips, for 
the free seats of men and women, placed on opposite sides. There 
were three porches, at the south, east, and west entrances, and a 
tower on the north surmounted by a spire, 130 feet high. 

In the day of smali things, the purchase of a bell was an impor- 
tant matter. After many conferences, the town and county united 
their funds for the purpose, and in May 1739, it was agreed, that the 
town would pay =£00 towards procuring a bell weighing not less than 
300 pounds, and half the expense of a frame for hanging it near a 
small tree, a little north of Capt. Daniel Heywood's, about midway 
between the meeting house and court house, ' to serve the town as 
well as the county.' In 1740, difficulties arose in completing the 
arrangements: the partnership was dissolved : the town paid .£140 
pounds for the whole bell, and it was placed in the steeple. 

The bell now used, cast by Revere and Sons, in Boston, in 1802, 
weighing 1975 pounds, bears this inscription 
' The living to the church I call, 
And to the grave I summon all.' 

The tower clock was made by Abel Stowell, in 1SC0. 

The Old South Church has been enlarged, and is now 90 feet 
long, and 55 wide, having a vestry at the south end. 

Unitarian Church. The first Meeting House of the Second 
Congregational Society, near Antiquarian Hall, on Summer street, 
was built by Ignatius Goulding and Elias Biake, on land given to 
the parish, June 16, 1791, by Charles and Samuel Chandler. It 
was a plain and neat edifice of wood. A bell was purchased, and 
a tower clock presented by Isaiah Thomas, Esq. both removed, and 
still used on the new church. 

The new brick meeting house on Main street, was erected at an 
expense of about 813,000, on land purchased of Isaiah Thomas, 
Esq. at the cost of 84000. 1 The foundation was laid August 11, 1828, 

1 The following inscription was deposited under the corner stone of its foundation. 
This house was erected by the Unitarian Congregational Society, Worcester, for 
.he worship of the one God, through the mediation of Jesus Christ. Foundation laid 
August 11, 1828. John Quincy Adams, President of the United States. Levi Lincoln, 



348 PUBLIC BUILDINGS. 

when an address was delivered by the Rev. Mr. Hill, 1 and religious 
services performed by the Rev. Dr. Bancroft. 

This building is 75 feet from east to west, and 68 feet from 
north to south : the walls 31 feet in height, and the tower, sur- 
mounted by a cupola, 125 feet high. The floor is divided into 104 
pews. It was dedicated Aug. 20, 1829. The highest price paid 
for pews was $337, the lowest SSO. This church has an organ 
purchased for 82000. 

The Calvinist Church, on Main street, built in 1823, and en- 
larged in 1834, is 93 feet by 57 : the height of the spire 130 feet. 
There are 94 pews on the floor, which have been sold from §116 
to 8200 each. An organ has lately been purchased for 81700. 

The Union Church, on Front street, built in 1836, is 90 by 54 
feet in size, including a vestry, with a spire 130 feet high. The or- 
gan cost 81200. 

The Baptist Church, east of the common, rebuilt in 1S36, is 
79 feet long, 50 wide, and has a spire 138 feet in height. 

Christ Church, on Temple street, built in 1836, the Catholic 
place of worship, is a neat structure of the Grecian Doric order, 
64 feet by 32, fronting to the south. 

The Methodist Church, on Columbian avenue, built in 1836, is 
66 feet long and 48 feet wide, with a spire about 100 feet high. 

The Centre School House, on Main street, built in 1792, is 
about 60 by 30 feet, and its four apartments are occupied by the 
primary and female school, of the district. 

The Brick School House, on Thomas street, built in 1832, 67 
by 30" feet, is appropriated for the Latin grammar school, and high- 
er boys^schools. 

The Town Hall, a neat brick building of fine architectural pro- 
portions, built in 1825, at an expense of about 810,000, is 54 by 64 
feet. The basement is occupied for keeping fire apparatus, and for 
stores. A large hall on the first floor is used for town meetings, re- 
ligious exercises, and public lectures. There are two spacious and 
neat halls on the second floor. An address was delivered at the 
dedication, May 2, 1825, by Hon. John Davis. 

Governor of Massachusetts. Rev. Aaron Bancro r t, D. D. and Rev. Alonzo Hill, 
Pastors. Frederick \V. Paine, Esq. Rejoice Newton, Esq., Deac. Alpheus Merrifield, 
Col. Samuel Ward, Capt. George T Rice, Capt. Lewis Barnard, Pliuy Merrick, Esq. 
Building Committee. Elias Carter, Peter Kendall, Master Builders. 
1 Published in the National ^Egis, August 13, 1828. 



BURIAL PLACES. 349 

Antiquarian Hall. The centre building erected by Isaiah 
Thomas, in 1819, is 46 feet long and 30 feet wide, with a cupola. 
Wings were extended in 1S82, each - 2S feet long and '21 feet wide. 

Worcester County Manual Labor High School. The 
Academy building is of brick, two stories in height, with a base- 
ment, and is 45 feet by 61) in exterior dimensions. The first story 
affords a convenient recitation room, and a chapel which may 
contain two hundred persons. The upper floor is divided into 
twelve rooms; one for the instructors; one for library and appara- 
tus; and ten, neatly famished, for the accommodation of students. 
A mansion with proper out buildings has been erected in the vi- 
cinity of the Academy for the residence of the superintendent and 
students. 

Public Lands. The lands granted for the support of schools 
and the ministry by the proprietors, were sold, from time to time ; the 
proceeds invested : and the interest, and finally the principal, applied 
to the purposes of the original appropriation. 

The land near the meeting house was early reserved for a train- 
ing held, and has remained open for military exercise and public ex- 
hibitions. The location of the Norwich Rail Road across this 
tract, will impair its use as a square, and leave no spot of the com- 
mon territory susceptible of being converted into an ornamented 
ground for the use of the crowded population. 

August 27, 1733, the proprietors voted 'that 100 acres of the poor- 
est land of Millstone Hill, be left common for the use of the town 
for building stones.' A subsequent grant was made of the territory 
to Daniel Heywood. The Supreme Court have determined, that a 
perpetual interest in the land for the limited use of taking stone, 
passed to the town by the first grant ; and the fee of the soil, subject 
to this use, to the grantee, by the second. 1 

Burial Places. The most ancient burial place of Worcester 
was north of the intersection of Thomas street with Summer street. 
It is now included in the enclosure around the brick school house, 
and the children of the present generation frolic over the remains 
of those whose graves were earliest made. Rachael, daughter of 
John and Jean Kellough, was the first person who died in the town, 
Dec. 15, 1717. The number of deaths which occurred from that 

1 Inhabitants of Worcester vs. William E. Green. Pickering's Reports, ii. 425. 



351) FACE OF THE TOWN. 

date to the time when another cemetery was occupied, were 28. 
Among them were some of the founders and first settlers. They 
were laid beneath old oaks, which long shadowed their place of rest. 
The burying place bordering on the common, was opened in 1730, 
when Ephraim Roper, accidentally killed in hunting, was interred 
there. When this became too populous for new occupation, anoth- 
er place of sepulture was provided in 1795, on Mechanic street, and 
now adjoining the Boston Rail Road. In 1828, a tract of eight acres 
was purchased on the plain, east of Washington square, which has 
since been divided by the rail road. A tract of about 20 acres, 
half a mile westward of the village, was purchased in 1835, laid 
out as a cemetery, and is to be ornamented with a belt of shade 
trees. There is a grave ya'.d between South Worcester and New 
Worcester. l 

Face of the town. The whole surface is undulating, swelling 
into hills of moderate acclivity, with gentle slope and beautifully 
rounded outline. From the eminences, the prospect is of the wide 
spread and highly improved fields of a fertile soil. Better descrip- 
tion cannot be given of the valley of Worcester, than by adopting the 
words of a writer of high authority. ' Apart from human culture,' says 
Prof. Hitchcock, 'this geographical centre of Massachusetts would 
present no very striking attractions to the lover of natural scenery. 
But this valley possesses precisely those features which art is capa- 
ble of rendering extremely fascinating. And there is scarcely to be 
met with, in this or any other country, a more charming landscape 
than Worcester presents, from almost any of the moderately elevat- 
ed hills that surround it. The high state of agriculture in every 
part of the valley, and the fine taste and neatness exhibited in all 
the buildings of this flourishing town, with the great elegance of 
many edifices, and the intermingling of so many and fine shade and 
fruit trees, spread over the prospect beauty of a high order, on which 
the eye delights to linger. I have never seen in a community of equal 
extent, so few marks of poverty and human degradation, as in this 
valley : and it is this aspect of comfort and independence among all 
classes, that enhances greatly the pleasure with which every true 

1 The burial places have been heretofore enclosed with rude fences, and overgrown 
with wild grass and briars. That strange taste, which disgraces the living, by placing 
senseless or inappropriate inscriptions on the monumental stones of the dead, has rare- 
ly left examples of its perversity here. Nor are there epitaphs distinguished by any 
singular merit, worthy of being transcribed. 



PONDS AND STREAMS. 



351 



American heart contemplates this scene : since it must be consider- 
ed as exhibiting the happy influence of our free institutions.' ' 

Ponds and Streams. Along the eastern boundary of Worces- 
ter, and partly within its territory, lies Quinsigamond Pond, some- 
times called Long Pond, a beautiful sheet of water, which, in any 
other country, would be dignified with the name of lake. It extends 
from north to south, in crescent form, about four miles in length, pre- 
senting, by reason of disproportionate breadth, the appearance of a 
noble river, with bold banks, covered with wood, or swelling into 
green hills. There are twelve islands, varying in extent from a few 
square rods of surface to many acres. Some of them, of singular 
beauty, are still clothed with their original forests. At the south 
end, the waters, with those of Half Moon, Round, and Flint's Pond, 
which are connected with Quinsigamond, How out in a southeaster- 
ly direction into the town of Grafton, forming the stream anciently 
called ' Nipnapp River,' now the Little Blackstone, a principal trib- 
utary to the main stream. When the Blackstone Canal was con- 
structed, the ponds were raised by a dam, and made a reservoir for 
that work. ~ 

The southern part of Quinsigamond and most of its fair islands, 
lie within the limits of Shrewsbury. The northern part is princi- 
pally in Worcester. 3 

North Pond, situated in that part of the town indicated by its 

1 Report on the Geology of Massachusetts, 100. 
2 Au estimate of the quantity of water contained in this reservoir, between high and 
low water mark, exhibiting lie extent of surface, lias been kindly furnished by Henry 
Snow, Esq. of Shrewsbury, made from actual admeasurement by that accurate surveyor. 
Low water is estimated at 2 feet 10 inches above the bollom of the (loom at the Irish 
Dam, for all waters below the neck of Quinsigamond, and 1 fool 5 inches above the 
bottom of the floom ai that point, lor a!l above. 

Surface. 

acres, rods. 

120 

06 

31 

155 

00 

13 

50 

147 

125 

Making 99579135 cubic feet, rejecting minute fractions. About 21 millions of cubic 
feet cannot be drawn down by reason of the back water from the pond of the New- 
England Village Factory. 

3 A full description of this Pond will be found in Ward's History of Shrewsbury, in 
Worcester Magazine, ii. 8. 



Above the old Road, 



Quinsigamond, 
Half Moon Pond, 


437 
17 
14 


Flooded Meadow and River, 
Round Pond, 
Flint's Pond, 


202 

6 

■15 

3G 



Df 

feet. 


plh. 
inches. 


Cubic feet. 


2 





2504700 


3 


3 


01871398 


2 


3 


1710415 


3 


3 


2119126 


2 


3 


196020 


o 


■1 


2C5 12714 


3 


3 


893660 


3 


3 


6500717 


2 





3 . ...: 



352 PONDS AND STREAMS. 

name, lie? principally in district No. 12, and is the reservoir of the 
summit level of the Blackstone Canal. It is the source of the stream 
called in the old records, Danson's, Mill, and Bimelick Brook, which 
passes through the village on its way to join the Blackstone River. 
The original suiface has been estimated at 30 acres : the dams and 
embankment raised around, now extend it to about 2)0 acres. 

Bladder Pond has the shape described by its appellation. It is 
situated on the northeast part of Chandler hill, and contains five 
or six acres. The surface has been gradually diminishing, as the 
roots of vegetation have stretched themselves over its waters, form- 
ing a floating belt around, on which it would be dangerous to tread. 

These are all the natural ponds within the territory of Worcester. 
Many have been created, by artificial means, for manufacturing pur- 
poses. 

The valley of Worcester is drained through the channel of the 
Blackstone River, which is divided into branches, themselves subdi- 
vided, intersecting the whole territory with veins of water, so that 
there is scarcely a farm which has not rill, rivulet, or brook, within 
its boundaries. Beginning at the southwest corner of Worcester, 
we meet the Kettle Brook, flowing southwardly into Ward, and af- 
ter a little progress further, we strike the main stream into which this 
brook empties, returning to the north, and called on the ancient re- 
cords French River, till it reaches New Worcester ; there it receives 
the waters of Tatriuck Brook and of Beaver Brook, both coming 
from Holden, and joining together before they unite to the river. 
After their junction the liver flows eastward about a mile and a half, 
and was called Halficay River, to the point were it receives the 
stream named on the proprietary records, usually Mill Brook, some- 
times Danson's Brook, and very rarely Bimelick- This tributary, 
receiving Weasle Brook soon after it flows out from its source in 
North Pond, goes in a southerly direction through the village, from 
the junction, the main stream swelled to a considerable volume, some- 
times having the appellation of Nipmuck River, but usually called 
Blackstone, flows by a southeasterly course into Mill bury. 

Among the tributaries of Mill Brook, near the town, Pine Meadow 
Brook, bringing water from Bladder Pond, a minute stream, falls in 
near the Brewery ; and Bear Brook, scarcely larger, flows back of 
the brick school house on Thomas street. 

Hills. Along the western boundary of the town, extends a 
chain of rounded highlands, the seat of Indian villages of yore, 



MINES. 353 

called by the natives Tataesset, and now known as Tatnuck. In the 
north part of the town is Winter Hill in district No. 10 : Mount 
Ararat beyond North Pond in district No. 12, and the ridge form- 
ing the northern wall of the valley, named on the records Indian 
Hill. 3Hllstouc Hill, northeast from the town, is an immense 
quarry of granite, presenting a remarkable geological structure of 
layers spread over each other in circular form like the coats of an 
onion. Chandler Hill, lies east of the town, and Oak Hill, south- 
east. Nearly south, and forming one margin of the valley of the 
Blackstone, is Sagatabscat, where Jonas Rice first built. Opposite, 
and across the river, is the huge mound of Pakachoag Hill, ex- 
tending far into Ward. Wigwam Hill, is a rounded eminence on 
the western shore and near the head of Quinsigamond. 

Mines and Minerals. About the middle of the last century, a 
mania for mining prevailed, almost as ruinous as that for speculation 
an hundred years later. Tired of the slow process of acquiring wealth 
by cultivating the surface of the earth, its possessors were enticed 
to dig into its bosom for treasures. The precious metais were the ob- 
jects of the search, and mining operations, began almost simultaneous- 
ly in Worcester, Sterling, Templeton, and many of her towns of the 
county, terminated, from want of science and skill, in total failure. 

In 1754, a vein of metal which was supposed to be silver, was dis- 
covered near the head of the valley, about a mile north of the town, 
A company for exploring the spot was formed by some of 'dt( most 
substantial inhabitants. Furnaces and smelting houses were erect- 
ed, and a cunning German employed as superintendent. Under his 
direction, a shaft was sunk 80 feet peipeudicularly, and a horizon- 
tal gallery extended about as far through the rock, which was to be 
intersected by another shaft, commenced about six rods north of the 
first opening. Among the masses, which within a few years laid 
around the scene of operation, were specimens of the ores con- 
taining a minute portion of silver, specks of copper and lead, much- 
iron, and an extraordinary quantity of arsenic. When struck against 
steel, a profusion of vivid sparks are thrown out, and the strong and 
peculiarly disagreeable odor of the latter mineral emitted. On the 
application of heat, this perfume increases to an overpowering ex- 
tent. The company expended great sums in blasting the rock, rais- 
ing its fragments, and erecting buildings and machinery. While the 
pile of stones increased, the money of the partners diminished. The 
furnaces in full blast, produced nothing but suffocating vapors, curling 
45 



354 MINES AND MINERALS. 

over the flames in those beautiful coronets of smoke which still at- 
tend the attempt to melt the ore. The shrewd foreigner, in whose 
promises the associates seem to have placed that confidence which 
honest men often repose on the declarations of knaves, became satis-- 
fied that the crisis was approaching when it would be ascertained 
that the funds were exhausted, and that stone and iron could not be ; 
transmuted to gold. Some papers which exist, indicate, that he pre- 
tended to knowledge in the occult sciences as well as skill in the 
art of deception. However this may be, he assured the company, 
that the great enemy of man had been busy in defeating their exer- 
tions, making his presence redolent in the perfumes of sulphur and 
arsenic. He obtained the sum of -$100 and made a journey to Phil- 
adelphia, to consult with a person experienced in mines and their 
daemons, for the purpose of exorcising the unsavory spirit of the 
crucible. He departed with a barrel full of the productions of the 
mine, but never returned to state the results of his conference. The 
proprietors abandoned the work, when they were waked by the re- 
ality of the loss from the dream of fortune, and afterwards destroy- 
ed the records of their credulity. 

A much more valuable source of wealth is in the Anthracite Coal. 
A deposit of this mineral exists about two miles northeast from the 
town. It was long converted into a paint, under the name of Black 
Lead, and furnished a cheap and durable covering for roofs and for 
the exterior of buildings exposed to the weather. In 1826, it was 
partially explored and began to be worked by Col. Amos Binney. 
It was found to be a valuable combustible, suitable, even in the im- 
pure state presented by the upper strata, for furnaces and places 
where intense heat and great fires were required. Engagements 
of business, and local circumstances, induced him to suspend the 
prosecution of the undertaking. Since his decease, the mineral, 
which might be made to give motion to the wheels of manufacturing 
and mechanic industry to unlimited extent, has been permitted to 
rest undisturbed in its bed. 

The rock in which the Worcester Anthracite occurs, is termed 
by Prof. Hitchcock, an imperfect kind of mica slate, and called by 
Humboldt, transition mica slate, having a moderate dip to the north 
east. Although the coal is considered by him, as inferior to that of 
Pennsylvania and Rhode Island, its specific gravity is greater than 
that from those states. He expresses the opinion that ' it will be 
considered by posterity, if not by the present generation, as a treas- 
ure of great value,' and adds. ' I can hardly believe, that a coal, 



MINERALS. 355 

which contains probably not less than 90 per centum of carbon, 
should not be employed, in some way or other, as valuable fuel.' 1 

Beds of abundant. In the north and west parts of the 

town about four millions of bricks have been made from this material 
during the year. 

Soapstone of good quality has been discovered, and a narrow vein 
was worked, in the south cast part of Worcester, though not with 
success. Pots of this material, used by the Indians for cooking, 
are sometimes turned up by the plough. 

Peat is found in many meadows, and as the supply of wood is 
diminished, may be advantageously used as fuel. 

Among the minerals of scientific interest are ; Idocrase, accompa- 
nied by small, pale, green crystals of Pyoxene, Epidote, and Garnets 
of a wine yellow color : Asbestus, Amianthoid, Plumbago, and veins 
of Pyritous Iron were found in working the coal mine : Carbon- 
ate of Iron, Arsenical Sulphuret of Iron, massive and crystalized, 
and Sulphuret of Lead, were once abundant around the old silver 
mine. Made sometimes occurs in argillaceous slate. 

The quarry of granite on Millstone hill, has furnished building 
material for a century, and the excavation now extends over two or 
three acres. The rock is composed almost entirely of gray quartz 
and white foliated feldspar, with very little mica, and differs only 
from the sienite of Quincy iri the absence of hornblende. The only 
distinct example of apparent stratification of granite found in the 
state, by Prof. Hitchcock, 2 was in this locality, and from the strata 
conforming on all sides to the slope of the land, being horizontal 
at the apex, and extending over the sides in concentric flakes, he 
infers that the hill i mous concretion. The rock is cross- 

ed by natural seams, dividing it into layers nearly parallel at the 
quarry, from one foot to two feet in thickness, and easily split by 
wedges. The surfaces are blackened with iron, which forms a crust 
on the exterior, called by the workmen ' the bark ' : from the ad- 
mixture of the same metal in the composition, the faces of the blocks 
when cut, become discolored on exposure to the weather. 

A quarry is extensively worked on the south end of Sagatabscot 
hill, called the ' South Ledge.' The rock is of light color, of the 
geological character of Granitic Gneiss, entirely free from iron, 
wrought with facility, and often beautifully veined. The hewn fronts 
of buildings of this material on Main street, would advantageously 
compare in elegance with the marble edifices of the cities. 

' lleport on the Geology of Massachusetts, 55. 2 jt> # 462. 



356 



MISCELLANEOUS. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

Municipal Officers. Selectmen. Clerks. Treasurers. Representatives. Fire De- 
partment. Fins and accidents bv lightning. 



Nathaniel Moore 



Selectmen cho 

17^2, 25—30, 

[32—35, 40 

Nathaniel Jones 1722,23 

Benjamin Flagg 1722,23,26,28, 

[34, 35, 37—40, 43—51 

Jonas Rice 1722, 24, 28, 30, 32, 

[34, 35, 38, 40 

John Gray 1722, 24 

Henry Lee 1723 

John Hubhard 1723 

Benjamin Flagg, jr. 1723,25, 30— 

[32 
Gershom Rice 1724, 27, 31, 33, 36, 
[30, 46 
James Taylor 1724, 26, 35, 30 

Daniel Heywood 1724, 26, 27, 29, 
[31, 34, 35, 38, 40, 42—46, 48—53 
Moses Leonard 1725, 26 

James McLellan 172."> 

James Holden 1725, 29, 30, 33, 36 
William Jennison 1727—31, 33, 
[35, 37, 38, 41 
James Rice 1728 

Zephaniah Rice 1729 

Palmer Goulding 1731,37,41,43 
James Moore 1732, 36, 39, 41 

John Stearns 1732, 36, 41 

John Chandler 1 733—35, 37—40, 
[42—53 
Gershom Rice, jr. 1736 



sen since 1722. 1 

Joshua Child 
Solomon Johnson 
Elijah Cook 
Joshua Eaton 



1737 
1742 
1742 
1742 

Thomas Wheeler 1743—45, 49— 
[51, 53, 73, 74, 79 
1744, 45 



John Chadwick 
Daniel Ward 
Joshua Bigelow 

James Boyd 
Thomas Stearns 
John Chandler, jr 



1746—47 
1747, 67—73, 75, 
[78 
1747 
1748 
1748—59, 61— 
[73 
1752, 53 
1752 
1754,55,60 
1754 
1754 
Timothy Paine 1754—63, 66—74 



Daniel Ward 
Elisha Smith 
John Curtis 
Nathaniel Moore, jr 
Jonathan Lynda 



John Boyden 
Gardner Chandler 
Tyrus Rice 
Israel Jennison 
Josiah Brewer 
William Young 
Asa Moore 
Daniel Boyden 
James Goodwin 
James Putnam 



1754, 65 

1754—56 

1755 

1756—58, 61 

1756, 62, 63 

1757, 74—77 

1757—62 

1759, 62 

1759 

17C0 



• When this mark — is placed between the dates, it indicates that the person was 
elected in the successive years between one and the other. 



MUNICIPAL OFFICERS. 



35" 



Jonathan Stone 1760, 67, 68, 72, 
[75—77 
Jacob Chamberlain 1761 

Ephraim Doolittle 1763—66 

Samuel Miller 1763—65,75,81,82 
Jacob Hemenway 1764 

Palmer Goulding 1764, 65, 71 

Samuel Mower 1765 

Josiah Pierce 1765, 74 — 76 

Samuel Curtis 1766, 75, 90—94 
Benjamin Flagg 1766 — 77 

Micah Johnson 1769 

Nathan Baldwin 1770 

David Bigelow 1776, 77, 79, 80, 
[83, 84 
Nathan Perry 1777,81— 83,85— S9 
Benjamin Stowell 1777 

John Kelso 1777 

Ebenezer Lovell 1778, 79, 84 

Robert Smith 1778, 79 

William Stearns 1778, 79 

Nathaniel Brooks 1778, 79, 84 
John Green 1780 

Jonathan Rice 1780 

Joseph Barber 1780 

Edward Crafts 1780 

William McFarland 1781, 82 

Samuel Brown 1781, 82 

John Gleason 1781, 82 

Joseph Allen 1783 

Joseph Wheeler 1783, 87—91 
Samuel Brooks 1784—93 

Daniel Goulding 1784, 95, 96, 98 
John Chamberlain 1785—95, 97, 
[98, 1801,02 
Jesse Taft 1785, 86 

Daniel Baird 1785—89 

Samuel Flagg 1790—1805, 1807 
Benjamin Heywood 1792—97, 99, 
[1800 
Nathaniel Paine 1794—1802 

Phineas Jones 1796, 97 

David Andrews 1798—1802 

Ephraim Mower 1799—1810,15— 

[17 



Edward Bangs 1803—1808 

Joseph Holbrook 1803—1806 

Nathaniel Harrington 1803—1809 
Nathan White 1 806—1 8 19 

Thomas Nichols 1808—1815 

Abraham Lincoln 1809—1824 

William Eaton 1810—1813, -O— 
[22, 25—28, 30 
John Gleason 1811—1815 

William Chamberlain 1814, 22— 

[24 
Nathaniel Stowell 1816—1821 
John Flagg 1816—1820, 24, 27, 
[28, 33, 34 
Peter Slater 
George Moore 
John Gleason, jr. 
Edward D. Bangs 
Joel Gleason 
Otis Corbett 
John W. Lincoln 



Daniel Stone 
Pliny Merrick 
Thomas Chamberlain 
Frederic W. Paine 



1818—1821 
1821—23 
1822—25 
1823, 24 
1824 
1825, 26, 30 
1825, 26, 33— 
[35 
1825, 26 
1827—29, 35 
1827—29 
1827, 31 



Benjamin Butman 1828, 29, 34, 35 
Alpheus Merrifield 1829—32 

Lewis Chapin 



Asahel Bellows 
Lewis Barnard 
Henry Heywood 
Benjamin Flagg 
Luther Burnett, jr. 
Charles Allen 
Guy S. Newton 
Jonathan Harrington 
Alfred D. Foster 
Samuel B. Thomas 
Simon S. Gates 
Ebenezer L. Barnard 
Thomas Kinnicutt 
Artemas Ward 
E. H. Hemenway 
Thomas Harback 



1829, 35, 36 
1830 
1830 

1831, 32 
1831 
1831 
1832 

1832—35 

1832, 33 
1833 
1834 

1835, 36 
1835, 36 
1836 
1836 
183* 
1336 



358 



MUJNCIPAL OFFICERS. 



Toion Clerks since 1722. 



1722 


Jonas Rice. 


1781 


Daniel Goulding. 


1723 


Benjamin Flagg. 


1783 


William G. Maccarty. 


1724 


Jonas Rice. 


1783 


Daniel Goulding. 


1729 


Zephaniah Rice. 


1787 


Theophilus Wheeler. 


1730 


Benjamin Flagg. 


1792 


Daniel Goulding. 


1731 


Jonas Rice. 


1796 


Leonard Worcester, protem 


1753 


Daniel Hey wood 


1797 


Daniel Goulding. 


1754 


Timothy Paine. 


1800 


Oliver Fiske. 


17G4 


John Chandler. 


1803 


Daniel Goulding. 


1768 


Clark Chandler. 


1808 


Enoch Flagg. 


1775 


Nathan Baldwin. 


1816 


Levi Heywood. 


1778 


William Stearns. 


1818 


Benjamin Chapin. 


1780 


Nathaniel Heywood. 


1833 


Samuel Jennison. 


1780 


Joseph Allen. 


1836 


Charles A. Hamilton. 




Town Treasurers since 1722. 


1722 


Daniel Heywood. 


1775 


Nathan Perry. 


1723 


Henry Lee. 


1778 


John Green. 


1724 


Daniel Heywood. 


1780 


William Gates. 


1725 


Nathaniel Moore. 


1781 


Nathan Perry. 


1726 


James Taylor. 


1790 


Samuel Flagg. 


1727 


Henry Lee. 


J 791 


Benjamin Heywood. 


1729 


Nathaniel Moore. 


1795 


Samuel Chandler. 


1731 


William Jennison. 


1798' 


Oliver Fiske. 


1732 


Daniel Heywood. 


1799 


Theophilus Wheeler. 


1736 


Gershom Rice, jr. 


1803 


Samuel Flagg. 


1737 


Palmer Goulding. 


1808 


Levi Lincoln, jr. 


1739 


Benjamin Flagg. 


1815 


James Wilson. 


171! 


John Chandler. 


1829 


Samuel Jennison. 


1752 


John Chandler, jr. 


1830 


Asa Hamilton. 


1760 


John Curtis. 


1832 


Charles A. Hamilton. 


1761 


John Chandler, jr. 


1833 


Charles G. Prentiss. 



Representatives 

Nathaniel Jones 1727 

William Jennison 1728—30 

Benjamin Flagg 1731, 43, 44, 46— 

[51 

John Chandler, jr. 1732—35, 38, 

[39, 52, 53 

John Chandler 1736, 37, 40, 42, 

[63—65 



chosen since 1727. 

Timothy Paine 1755—57, 59—62, 
[88, 89 
Palmer Goulding 1741 

Ephraim Doolittle 1766, 67 

Joshua Bigelow 1768 — 74 

Ebenezer Lovell 1777 

David Bigelow 1777 

John Green 1777 



FIRE DEPARTMENT. 



359 



Ezekiel How 1777 

Samuel Curtis 1778—85, 1802— 
[1804, 1806 
Samuel Brooks 1786, 87 

Samuel Flagg 1790—98, 1805, 07 

1796 
171)0—1801 
1803—11 
1806—1810 
1808, 1812—15 
1809—1823 
1811—1813 



Levi Lincoln, sen 

Nathaniel Paine 

Edward Bangs 

Ephraim Mower 

Nathan White 

Abraham Lincoln 

William Eaton 

Levi Lincoln, jr. 1814—17, 20, 22 

Edward D. Bangs 1810, 17, 20, 24 

William Eaton 1822—25, 27—30 

Samuel Harrington 1823 

Otis Corbett 1824, 26—28, 30, 31, 

[35 
John W. Lincoln 1824—26, 32— 

[34 
Samuel M. Burnside 1826 

Pliny Merrick 1827 

Rejoice Newton 1828—30 



Benjamin Chapin 
Charles Allen 
Frederic W. Paine 
Alfred D. F- 
.Tubal Harrington 
Lewis Chapin 
Wihsor Hatch 
Silas Brooks 
John I 

Thomas Kinnicutt 
Thorn erlain 

David T. Brio-ham 
Samuel B. Tin; 

•back 
Benjamin Goddard, 2d. 
Benjamin Fl 
William Lincoln 
Guy S. Newton 
John Coe 
David Wadsworth 
Ebenezer L. Barnard 
Edward PI. Hemenway 



1829 

1829, 32, 33 

1829 

1831-34 

1831,35 

1832,33 

1832, 33 

1832 

1833,34 

1834, 36 
1S34— 36 

1834 

1834 

1835 

1835,36 

1835, 36 
1835 
1836 
1836 
1836 
1836 



Fire Department. By the Act of Feb. 26, 1835, accepted by 
the town, a fire department was established in Worcester. Engi- 
neers are appointed by the selectmen, who are authorised to exercise 
the same duties in relation to engine men as the selectmen before 
possessed, and the same power as to the extinguishment of fires be- 
fore belonging to firewards. 

The Department was organized in May, 1835 : nine engineers, 
and three assistants were appointed. There are six fire companies, 
attached to as many engines, with these numbers, names, and sta- 
tions : 1. Hero, at Quinsigamond Village : 2. Rapid, at New Wor- 
cester : 3. Despatch, at Lincoln Square : 4. Torrent, at the Town 
Hall: 5. Extinguisher, in Goddard's Row : 6. Lafayette, on Colum- 
bian Avenue. The Hook and Ladder company, have their appara- 
tus on the common. Isaac Davis, Esq. is chief engineer. 

FIRES, AND INJURIES BY LIGHTNING. 

17G7, May 25. The dwelling house of Mr. James Barber, and 
all his goods were consumed. The fire was occasioned by a defect 
of the oven. 



300 



FIRES. 



1778, Feb. 21. A fire broke out in the house of Francis Cut- 
ting, but being timely discovered, was extinguished. 

1782, Nov. 2. The Blacksmith's shop of Ebenezer Chapin, was 
burnt. 

1784, July 10. The house of Bezaleel Stearns, in the Gore, 
was entirely destroyed. The owner was at work in the fields at a 
distance; his wife, having put fire in the oven, went out on a visit to 
a neighbor. On her return, duelling, furniture, cl >thing, and every 
article of property had disappeared, and nothing but ashes remained. 

1786, J in 26. The house of Capt. Samuel Flagg, on the site of 
that owned, Sept. 1836, by Hon. Charles Allen, was burnt (o the 
ground in the night : the furniture was saved, but many articles of 
weiring apparel consumed. At this time there was no fire eno-ine 
in town. 

1701, July 4. The Pearlash works of Messrs. Chandlers, on the 
farm, in 1836, of Abiel Jacques, Esq. took fire by reason of the 
excessive heat in the furnace the day preceding, but the progress 
of the flames was arrested without great injury. 

1793, Jan. 4. The weaver's shop of Cornelius and Peter Stow- 
ell, with more than 2000 yards of cloth, and the stock for 700 yards 
more, were consumed. The loss was estimated at <£300. 

1798, March 19. The Hatter's shop of Jacob Harrino-ton was 
discovered to be on fire. A brand had been left standing; beino- 
separated by burning, it fell on the floor, and communicated flames 
to the roof, which were subdued by great exertions. 

1799, June 26. During a severe tempest, resembling in violence 
the hurricanes of the West Indies, the lightning struck a building 
directly back of the Court House, then occupied by Isaiah Thomas, 
in which were stored the" types for the 12mo. edition of the Bible. 
The electric fluid, in four distinct veins, pervaded the whole struc- 
ture, splintering spar and stud, scattering bricks and mortar, and 
bursting away boards, laths, and plastering. 1 

1801, May 22. In the immediate vicinity of the former injury, 
the lightning struck a large elm tree, close by the residence of 
Judge Edward Bangs, on Main street, owned in 1836, by Isaac Da- 
vis and William Pratt. One stream, descending from the tree, en- 
tered the house, broke two looking glasses, and the furniture, and 
passed through an apartment in which were seven persons, without 
doing them hurt. Another branch went to the adjoining house, and 

1 A detailed account of the effects of this accident will be found in the Mass. Spy, 
July 3 and July 10, 1799. 



• 



FIRES. 361 

a female was rendered apparently lifeless for some time by its effects. 
The third vein went down the trunk of the tree and expended its 
force in the earth. 

1805, Aug. 11. The Court House, of loftier elevation than eith- 
er of the buildings in the near neighborhood which had been struck, 
at length experienced a visitation of the same calamity. The light- 
ning touched the front pediment, threw off the shingles, shivered 
the diamond glass of the large eastern window, shattered the Vene- 
tian blind, and splintered the style of the great door. 

1805, Nov. G. The hatter's shop of Nathaniel Mower, on the 
site occupied in 1836, by the block of stores of Hon. Daniel Waldo, 
was destroyed by fire. 

1811, May 20. A dwelling house of Silas Bigelow was burnt. 

1815, Jan. 12. The loss occasioned by the burning of the car^ 
ding factory of Earle and Williams, on the site of the Court Mills, 
was estimated at 84000. 

1815, Feb. 18. The most destructive conflagration experienced 
in this town, broke out on the west side of Main street, amid the 
violence of a severe storm, when the depth of snow, strength of 
wind, and intensity of cold, cooperated to render the efforts to arrest 
its progress unavailing. The house, store, and merchandize of Sam- 
uel Brazer, and the dwelling house, bake house, and out buildings 
of Enoch and Elisha Flagg, were consumed. The aggregate loss 
exceeded 810000. The inhabitants subscribed 82700, and $1800 
were contributed in other places for the relief of the principal suf- 
ferers. 

1816, Feb. 15. A house, wheelwright's shop and barn of Na- 
thaniel Flagg, 2d, and the -store of Jonathan Knight, at Adams 
square, were burnt. Loss, 82000. 

1821, May 2. The house of Daniel Chadwick, about three quar- 
ters of a mile north from the court house, was struck by lightning. 
The fluid descending by the chimney, killed a dog on the hearth, 
but the inmates of the dwelling escaped uninjured. 

1824, Dec. 24. The old Brown & Butman tavern house, north 
of Lincoln square, which had been unoccupied for three or four 
years, and then belonging to Stephen Salisbury, Esq. was set on 
fire by an incendiary, in the night, and destroyed. 

1825, May 7 A large blacksmith's shop of Levi Howe, was 
burnt, and a loss of $800 occasioned. 

1825, July 4. The new two story dwelling house of Moses Whip- 
ple on Grafton street was struck by lightning and consumed, with 
46 



3G2 FIRES. 

part of the furniture and the joiner's tools of its owner. An appren* 
tice who was working in a room occupied as a carpenter's shop, was 
stunned by the shock, and on recovering, found the apartment en- 
veloped in flames. Loss $ 1500. 

1827, Feb. 28. The lower paper mill of Elijah Burbank, about 
50 feet in length, was set on fire by the spontaneous combustion of 
cotton waste, and the upper story, with a large quantity of stock des-» 
troyed. Loss 8 500. 

1827, April 11. The joiner's shop of Zenas Studley on Prospect 
street, was burnt on Sunday afternoon. A barn adjoining was des- 
troyed, and the dwelling house of Mr. Stowell, near by, injured. 
Loss 8 1500. 

1829, July 30. A barn of John and Abel Flagg, in District No. 
6, was set on fire by lightning, and consumed, with the whole crop 
of hay and a valuable horse. 

1830, Feb. G. On Saturday evening, the dwelling house and 
store of Oliver Harrington in New Worcester were burned. 

1830, Sept. 5. On Sunday morning, about 3 o'clock, a fire broke 
out in the store in Goddard's block, occupied by George M. Rice 
& Co. The interior, and the goods, insured for $0000, were burned. 
The damage to the building was about 8 GOO. 

1831, Jan. 7. The hatter's shop of J. P. Kettell & Co. was set 
on fire : loss 8 200. 

1831, Aug. 19. The two story house and barn of William Stowell 
in New Worcester were burned. 

183:2, March 11. A dwelling house on Mechanic street, owned 
by Luther Burnett, was set on lire, and destroyed. Loss 8700. 

1834, Jan. 27. The dry house of the woolen factory of W. B, 
Fox & Co. took fire, but was extinguished. Loss about 8500. 

1834, Sept. 11. The house, bake house, and barn, of Andrew 
March, at the corner of Main and School streets, took fire about 
midnight, and were destroyed. Loss 8 3500. 

1835, Feb. 5. A small Factory in the southwest part of the 
town, belonging to Ira Byrant, was burnt. Loss 8 1500. 

1836, May 21. About 1 o'clock of the morning, flames broke 
out in the Baptist Meetinghouse, and spread so rapidly, that in lit- 
tle more than half an hour not a stick of timber of the church was 
left standing. The origin was attributed to an incendiary. 

Other inconsiderable fires, and accidents by lightning, have oc- 
curred : but the principal are enumerated. 



303 



APPENDIX. 



[See page 2.] 

I. PETITION FOR A PLANTATION AT QTJINSIGAM0ND. 

October 8, 1GG5. 

To the right worshipfull Governor, the deputy Governor, together with 
;he worshipfull Magistrates, and the Deputies, assembled in General Court 
it Boston, J lth Oct. 1665. The petition of Thomas Noyse, John Haynes, 
Fosiah Haynes, of Sudbury, and Nathaniel Treadaway, of Watertown, 
Humbly Sheweth, That your Petitioners, having purchased several par- 
cels of land without the limits of any Plantation, in the Wilderness, lying 
;othe Westward of the Plantation called Maurlborrow, and the sayd lands 
leing to the quantity of about five Thousand acres, by reason of distance 
Tom any plantation, is not so profitable to your petitioners as it might bee, 
md whereas, the sayd lands do ly in a very convenient place for a planta- 
;ion, and other lands lying adjoining thereto, sufficient to make a planta- 
tion, which will be very beneficiall to the countrey, lying in the new and 
nost direct way to Connectequot, neare unto Q,uansigamug Pond, and will 
ae a meanes to advance the worth and benefitt of your Petitioner's lands, 
md make them more usefull to themselves, and more beneficiall to their 
aosterity, which are many, the lands being very good, were they in a way 
Df improvement, and divers friendes and neighbors being very desirous to 
snter upon the same, to whom it will probably be very beneticiall : 

Your Petitioners, from these and equivalent consideracons, are ani- 
mated and incouraged to petition this honored Court, seriously to weigh 
the premises, and doe humbly intreat and desire, if in your wisdomes you 
shall see meet, a grant of a plantation, there to be sett up, and for that 
end, to appoint a committee to view the same, and lay out the bounds 
thereof, and for the settlement of it, which wee hope will bee both accept- 
able and beneficiall to the whole ; and your Petitioners, as in duty bound, 
shall ever pray, &c. 

Thomas Noyse. .Tosiah Haynes. 

John Haynes. Nathaniel Treadaway. 



[See page 2.] 

ii. order of the great and general court. 

October 1], 1665. 

This Court, understanding by the Petition of Thomas Noyes, John 
Haynes, Josiah Haynes of Sudbury, and Nathaniel Treadaway, of Water- 
town, hereunto affixed, that there is a meete place for a Plantation, about 
ten miles from Marlborow, westward, at or neer Quansetamug Pond, 
which, that it may be improved for that end, and not spoiled by grantinge 



364 APPENDIX. 

of farms, in answer to the forsaid petition, This Court doth order, that 
there should be a quantitie of eight miles square layd out and reserved 
thereabout, in the Court's dispose, for a plantation, for the encouragement 
of such persons as shall appear, any time within three years from the date 
hereof, beeing men approved of by this Court ; and that Capt. Edward 
Johnson, Lieutenant Joshua ffisher, and Lieut. Thomas Noyes, shall, and 
hereby are appointed and empowered to lay out the same, and to be payd 
by such persons as shall appear within the terme above expressed. The 
Deputies have past this with refFerence to the consent of our honored 
Magistrates hereto. William Torrey, Clerk. 

11. 8. 1665. 

The Magistrates consent to a survey of the place petitioned for, and 
that Captaine Gookin doe joine with those mentioned of our brethren the 
deputies, and make return of their survey to the next General Court of 
Elections, who may take order therein as they shall see meete, their bre- 
thren the deputys hereto consenting. Edw'd Rawson, Sect'y. 

Consented to by the deputies. William Torrey, Cleric. 



[See page 2.] 

iii. order of the great and general court. 

May 15, 1667. 

Whereas, this Court, upon the petition of Ensigne Thomas Noyes and 
others, did nominate and appoint Capt. Gookin and some other Gentlemen, 
to view a place about tenn miles westward from Marlborough, at or about a 
place called Quansigamon Ponds, and to make report to this Court whether 
the place was capable of making a plantation, (as it is informed to be), 
which work hitherto hath been neglected, through the death of Thomas 
Noyes and other impediments : It is therefore ordered by this Court, that 
Capt. Daniel Gookin, Capt. Edward Johnson, Mr. Samuel Andrew, Mr. 
Andrew Belchar, senr. or any three of them, be desired and impowered as a 
committee, to take an exact view of the said place, as soone as conveniently 
they cann, and to make a true report to this Court, whether it be capable to 
make a village, and what number of familyes (they conceive) may be there 
accommodated. And if they finde it fitt for a plantation, then to offer 
unto this Court some meete expedient how the same may be settled and 
improved for the public good ; and this Court doth prohibit the laying out 
of any grants in the sayd place until the Comittee have made returne, 
which the Court would have donne by ye next session of this Court if it 
may be. 



[See page 10.] 
it. first indian deed. 
July 13, 1674. 

Bee it known to all men by this present writing, that Wee, John, alias 
Horrawannonit, or Quiquonassett, Sagamore of Pakachoge, and Solomon, 
alias Woonaskochu, Sagamore of Tataessit, together with the consent of 
our kindred and people, and for and in consideration of twelve pounds of 
lawful money of New England, or the full value thereof, in other specie, 
to our content, within three mouths after the date hereof, well and truely to 



ANCIENT PAPERS. 365 

be paid, and satisfied, and pt. whereof, viz. two coats and four yards of 
trading cloth, valewed at twenty six shill. wee do acknowledge to have 
received in hand, as earnest, of Daniel Gookin senr. of Cambr. Esqr. and 
of Daniel Hinchman, of Boston, Brewer, in behalf of themselves and 
Capt. Thomas Prentice, and Lt. Richard Beers, and the rest of the Genii. 
Court's Comittee, appointed for the management of a new plantation 
granted by the said Court, conteyning eight miles square, or the contents 
thereof, being to the westward of Marlborough, near Quansiquamond 
Ponds, and on each side of the Roadway leading towards Connecticott ; 
Now know yee, yt wee, ye sd. Jno. and Solomon, Sagamores aforesaid, and 
upon the terms aforesaid, have bargained, sold, aliened, enfeeoffed, and 
confirmed, unto the ye sd Daniel Gookin, Thomas Prentice, Daniel Hinch- 
man, Richard Beers, and ye rest of the people admitted, or to be admitted, 
by ye sd comittee to be inhabitants of yt new plantation, and to their heirs, 
executors, admrs, and assigns for ever, in fee simple, all and every pt of 
our civill or naturall right, in all and singular the broken up land and 
woodlands, woods, trees, rivers, brooks ponds, swamps, meadows, miner- 
alls, or any other thing, or things whatsoever, lying and being within that 
tract of land, conteyning eight miles square or the contents thereof, to be 
layd out by ye sd persons or their order in time convenient. To have 
arid to hold the premises, and every pt thereof, unto them the sd Daniel 
Gookin, Thomas Prentice, Daniel Hinchman, and Richard Beers, and all 
ye rest of ye sd Inhabitants admitted or to be admitted planters there, 
and unto ym and yr heirs forever, freely and absolutely, without any lett, 
molestation, or disturbance, of us, or any of our kindred or people, or any 
claiming by, from, or under us, for evermore, as our heyrs or assigns ; and 
wee do "promise, upon the finishing ye payment to make full and ample 
deeds and writings for the same, according to law. In witness of the 
truth hereof, wee°ye sd John and Solomon, alias Horrowanonitt and Wo- 
oannaskochu, have hereunto set our hands and seals, this thirteenth day 
of July 1674. 

Signed, Sealed and } Solomon, alias Woonnasakochu, seal and mark, 
delivered in the > j, aliag Hoorrawanwit, mark and seal, 

presence ot us, } 

Onnamog, his mark, Sagamore of Occonomesett. 
Namphow, his mark, sagamore of Wamesett. 
Joseph Thatcher, of Chabanakonchoie, his mark. 
Nosannowitt, his mark. Noah Wiswall, present 

Full payment rec'd August 20, 1676. D. Gookin. 

This Deed acknowledged by the Sagamores, before Daniel Gookin, 
Sen. Assist. July 13. 

Entered, 9. 2. 83 by Thomas Danforth, R. 



[See page 19.] 
v. order of council to capt. edward hutchinson. 
July 27, 1675. 

The Council, beeing informed that the Narraganset Indians are come 
down with about 100 armed men into the Nipmuck Country, Do order you, 
Capt Edward Hutchinson, to take with you Capt. Thomas Wheeler, and 
his party of horse, with Ephraim Curtis for a guide, and a sufficient inter- 
preter, and forthwith to repaire into those parts, and there labour to get a 
right understanding of the motions of the Narraganset Indians and of the 
Indians of Nipmuck, and for that end to demand of the leaders of the 



366 APPENDIX. 

Narraganset Indians an account of the grounds of their marching in that 
country, and require to understand the orders of their Sachems: And al- 
so, to demand an account of the Nipmuck Indians, why they have not sent 
down their Sagamore, according to their promise unto our Messenger, 
Ephraim Curtis. And further, let them know that we are informed, that 
there are some among them, that have actually joyned with our enemies 
in the murder and spoile made upon the English by Philip. And that Ma- 
toonus and his complices, who have robbed and murdered our people about 
Mendon are now among them, And that we require them to deliver up to 
you, or forthwith bring into us, those our enemies, otherwise we must look 
at them to bee no friends to us, but ayders and abbetors ; and unto all 
these things you shall require their expresse answer ; and as soon as you 
have dispatched this affayre, you are to return home and give us an account. 
So desiring the Lord's presence with you, and in the prosecution of this 
affair, if you should meet with any Indians, that stande in opposition to 
you, or declare themselves to be your enemy, then you are ordered to in- 
gage with them, if you sec reason for it, and endeavour to reduce them by 
force of arms. 



[See page 19.] 

vi. order of council. 

Sept. 15, 1675. 

At a meeting of the Council, Sept. the 15, 1675, It is ordered by the 
Council, that Ephraim Curtis, hath hereby liberty, together with such 
other English men as he shall procure, provided they be not less in num- 
ber than thirty men well armed, the said Curtis with his company aforesaid, 
are allowed to gather and improve for their own use all the Indian Corn of 
the Indian Plantations of Pakchooge, Maanexit, Senexit, Noobsquesit* 
Quanaticke, and Quatoositt, belonging to our enemies the Indians that 
are fled, provided allwais, they do not disturbe the praying Indians of Has- 
sanamesit, Chabannokonkon, Manchage, Quantisit, and Magunkoog, that 
now are atNaticke, to gather and improve the Indian Corne growing upon 
those places, or any other Indian Plantations belonging to our Enemies, 
that are not above mentioned, alotted, and appointed for the sd. Curtis and 
the English with him to improve, which the Council granted to the sd. In- 
dians by a former order. 

By the Council, Edw. Rawson, Sect'y. 



[See page 21.] 

vii. orders and instructions for capt. joseph sill. 

November 2, 1075. 

1. You are to take charge of the Souldiers raised from Charlestown, Wa- 
tertown, and Cambridge, which are about sixty men, and being fitted and 
furnished with Armes, Amunition, and Provision for a week, you are to 
march away forthwith to Naticke, and there take such trusty Indians 
guides, with you, as Corporal Whatson hath prepared for that purpose, and, 
then march away, with all convenient speed, to Hassanainesit, an Indian 
Plantation, near Nipmuck river, from whence you are to send intelligence 
unto Capt. Daniel Henchman, who with his Company is to march to Men- 
don, informing him that you are ordered to join with him to pursue the 



ANCIENT PAP] 



367 



Enemy, whom we hear is come down to a place called P,akachoogej 
about 7 miles from Hassanamesit Northwest, and hath killed and sur- 
prised some of our neighboring Indians tint were gal ■ Corn there, 
anil as we have ground to fear hath lately attacked Marlborow. 

2. Being joined with Captain Henchman, you are to be urn er his order, 
and jointly to seek out for the Enemy at the said place, or any < 

where you can understand he is ; and if you meet the Enemy you a 
use your best skill and force to supprise, seize, kill, and destroy the Ene- 
my, and to rescue and relieve any of our friends, either English or Indians, 
that are taken or injured by him. 

3. You are to be very carefull to send forth Scouts before you, to disc 

the Enemy's quarters, and if it may be, to come upon him in the Night. 

4. You are carefully so to march the men in the woods, that if it be pos- 
sible to avoid, or shun, or search well before you go too near, all such 
places as Swamps or Thickets, where the Enemy use, with subtilety to lurk 
in Ambushment. 

5. You are in all your attempts and enterprise, to have your eyes and 
hearts lifted up to God in Christ Jesus, who is the Lord of Hosts and Cod 
of Armies, that he Avill give his presence with you, and assistance unto 
you, and your Company, in all your undertakings: not trusting or relying 
upon the arm of flesh, but upon the living Lord alone, from whose gra- 
cious blessings and presence all good comes. 

6. And you are carefully so to demean yourself, in your consultation, 
that you may give your Souldicrs a good example in piety and virtue, and 
so govern the Souldiers under your command, that your Camp may be holi- 
ness to the Lord: and to this end, you have the Military laws printed and 
published, which are for your rule and direction in that matter. 

7. If you find a considerable quantity of Corn at Pakachooge, if you 
can save it, we give it you and your Souldiers, together with Capt. Hench- 
man and his Souldiers, for Plunder ; so desireing the ever living Lord God 
to accompany you and your Company, with his gracious conduct and pre- 
sence, And that He will, for Christ's sake, appear in all the mounts of 
difficulty, and cover all your heads in the day of Battle, and deliver the 
blood thirsty and cruel Enemy of God and his People into your hands, and 
make you executioner of his just indignation upon them, and return you 
victorious unto us who commit you and your Company unto God, and re- 
main. 

These orders and instructions bvthe Council. 

E. R. [Edward Rawson.] 
November the 2d — 1675. 



[See page 28.] 

viii. second indian deed. 

February 12, 1677. 

Bee it known to all men by these presents, yt we, Anthony, alias Wun- 
aweshawakum, and Abagail his wife, only Daughter and Heyr of Pannasu- 
net, late of Quansicamund, deceased ; also Nannuswane, widdow and 
relict of the said Pannasuned ; also Sasomett, and Quassawake his wife, 
sister to the said Pannasunitt, for and in consideration of full satisfaction 
in trucking cloth and corn, paid to and received by us, from Daniel Gookin, 
Esq. Capt. Thos. Prentice of Cambr, and Capt. Daniel Henchman of Bos- 
ton, pd unto us and each of us, have bargained and sold, aliened, enfe- 
offed, and confirmed, and by these presents do bargaine, sell, alien, enfe- 
offe, and confirm, unto the said Daniel Gookin, Thomas Prentice, Daniel 



Anthony, Signed and Sealed. 
Abagail, Signed and Sealed. 
Nanswan, Signed and Sealed. 



368 APPENDIX. 

Henchman, for ye use of themselves, and all other their partners and as- 
sociates yt are and shall be admitted Inhabitants and planters, upon a 
township granted unto ye sd Daniel Gookin, Tho. Prentice, Daniel Hinch- 
man, by a General Court of Massachusetts, at a place between Marlborough 
and Brookfield, called by the Indian Name Quansicamond Ponds, contein- 
ing ye contents of eight miles square, with all the lands, woods, meadows, 
watercourses, mineralls, or any other matter or thing, within the said tract 
which in naturall right belonged to us, or any of us, and posses'd of, by the 
said Pannasunet, Sagamore, or his heirs or kindred wtsoever: To Have and 
To Hold all the lands, both woodland and brokenup lands, and all ye ap- 
purtenances, as aforesaid, to ym the said Daniel Gookin, Thomas Pren- 
tice, Daniel Henchman their heirs and associates, yt shall and may duely 
and legally possess and sett down upon their lands and plantation, and to 
their heirs, executors, administrators, or assigns, for evermore, and the said 
Anthony, alias Wannoshanuhannitt, and Abagail ids wife, daughter and 
only heir to Panasunet, and her mother Nannaswane, and Sasuet and his 
wife, Sister of Panasunet, being all Indians, and Natives, and Inhabitants, 
they and their ancestors, of that place and tract of land at Quansicamond 
Ponds, have good and just naturall right and interest in the said land, and 
do freely and absolutely sell and alien all the premises aforesaid, unto the 
said persons and their heirs forever, warranting ye lawful sale herein 
made, for us our heirs, executors and administrators, or from or by any per- 
son wtsoever. In witness whereof, Ave have hereunto set our hands and 
seals, this sixth day of the 12th Mo. 1G77. 
Signed, Sealed and 
delivered in presence 
of us, 

John Elliott. Sasomet, Signed and Sealed. 

Nathaniel Gookin. Quasonoit,Signed and Sealed. 

Waban, his mark. 
James Speen. 
Simon Betoghom. 

This deed acknowledged by all ye subscribers, and sealer 1 this 6. of 
Febr. 1677, before me, Daniel Gookin, Senr. Assist. 

Entered, 9. 2. 83. by Tho. Danforth R. 



[See page 29.] 

IX. ORDER OF THE GREAT AND GENERAL COl 
1679. 

For the greater comfort and safety of all people who are intending to 
resettle the villages deserted in the late war, or the planting any new 
plantation within this jurisdiction, It is ordered by this Court and the 
authority thereof, that no deserted town or new plantation shall be inhabi- 
ted, till the people first make application unto the Goverrttfr and Council, 
or to the County Courts within whose jurisdiction such plantation is, and 
the Council or County Court are hereby ordered and empowered, to ap- 
point an able and discreet committee, at the charge of the people intending 
to plant, Avhich Com. are ordered and empowered to view and consider 
the place or places to be settled, and give directions and orders in writing, 
under their hands in what form, way, and manner, such town shall be set- 
tled and erected ; wherein they are required to have a principal respect 
to nearness and conveniency of habitation for security against enemies, and 
more comfort for christian communion and enjoyment of God's worship, 



VOTES. DA.ME1. SHAYS. 



3C9 



md education of children in schools, and civility, v. ith other good ends ; 
and all such Planters are hereby enjoyned to attend and put in practise 
such orders and directions as shall be given by such committee, upon the 
penalty of one hundred pounds tine to the Country, to be inflicted upon 
them by order of the Council, or County Court, for their neglect or refusal 
to attend this order. 



[See page 154.] 

VOTES IN WORCESTER FOR GOVERNOR SINCE 1?H0. 



Date. 


- 




Candid tti s. 






Candidates. 


Cand 




1780 


Hanco :k 


56 


Bovi doin 


20 




1 .incoln 


221 


Gore 


117 


L781 


1 [ancock 


48 


1 iovvdoin 


04 


1810 


Gerrv 


220 


Gere 


142 


i?;;j 


1 Ian cock 


29 


i 1 1\\ doin 


1 I 


1811 


Gerry 


210 


Gore 


137 


1783 


Hancock 


49 


Bowdoin 


08 


1812 




241 


Strong 


165 


1 TSt 


Hancock 


SO 


Bowdoin 


12 


1813 


Varnurn 


:33 


Strong 


175 


1785 


Bowdoin 


35 


Dana 


8.3 


181 1 


Dexter 


235 


Strong 


194 


1786 


Bowdoin 


45 


Gushing 


02 


1815 


Dexter 


226 


Strong 


201 


L787 


Hancock 


III 


Bowdoin 


67 


1816 


1 >exter 




Brooks 


202 


1788 


Hancock 


92 


Gerry 


87 


1817 


1 ' irborn 


■ 


Brooks 


191 


17S9 


Hancock 


78 


Bowdoin 


37 


1818 


Crowninshieh 


1 205 


Brooks 


174 


1790 


Hancock 


51 


Bowdoin 


20 


1819 


Crowninshieh 


30 


Brooks 


184 


1791 


Hancock 


68 


Dana 


01 


1820 


Eustis 


234 


Brooks 


158 


1792 


Hancock 


24 


Phillips 


18 


1821 


Eustis 


191 


Brooks 


166 


1793 


Hancock 


31 


Gerry 


31 


1822 


i lustis 


191 


Otis 


182 


I79i 


Adam 5 


55 


Gushing 


38 


1823 


Eustis 




Otis 


182 


1795 


A i lams 


70 


Gerry 


04 


1824 


Eustis 


298 


Lathrop 


222 


1796 


Sumner 


102 


Adams 


:: 


1825 


Lincoln 


284. 


Morton 


~09 


1797 


Sumner 


88 


Sullivan 


37 


^826 


Lincoln 


201 


Lloyd 


40 


1798 


Sumner 


81 


Gill 


01 


1827 


Lincoln 


327 


Jarvis 


06 


1799 


Sumner 


119 


— 


— i 


1828 


Lincoln 


161 


Morton 


12 


1800 


Gerry 


140 


Strong 


35 


1829 


Lincoln 


203 


Morton 


15 


1801 


Gerry 


127 


Strong 


59 


1830 


Lincoln 


303 


Morion 


112 


1802 


Gerry 


114 


Strong 


88 


i 131 


Lincoln 


299 


Morton 


107 


1803 


Gerry 1 


151 


Strong 


101 




Lincoln 


361 


Morton 


143 


1804 


Sullivan 


150 


Strong 


86 


1833 


Davis 


478 


Morton 


152 


1805 


Sullivan 


191 


Strong 


109 


1834 


Davis 


;■; 2 


Morton 


160 


1806 


Sullivan 


219 


St long 


155 


1835 


Everett 


146 


Morton 


291 


1807 


Sullivan 


221 


Strong 


134 


1836 


Everett 


577 


Morton 


317 


1808 


Sullivan 


213 


Gore 


132 













[See page 151.] 

XI. NOTICE OF DANIEL SHAYS. 

[It was acci 1 snl il ! v s ated in the note to page 151 that a sketch of the life of tins indi- 
vidual would be found in the Appendix. The necessity of performing a promise in- 
idvertently made, is the only reason for its appearance here.] 

This individual acquired an unenviable notoriety which imparts some 
legree of interest to the incidents of his life. He was born in Hopkin- 
:on, in 1747 ; the son of parents not in affluent circumstances, he worked 
with Mr. Brinley, a respectable farmer of Framinghani. The activity and 
snergy of his youth promised at maturity more desirable elevation than 
le attained. That his education was neglected, is apparent from his offi- 
cial letters, bidding defiance alike to government, grammar, and good spell- 
ing. Just before the revolution, he removed to one of the towns beyond 
Connecticut river, and afterwards resided in Pelham. When the war com- 
menced lie entered the army at the age of twenty eight, with the rank of 
Ensign, in Capt. Dickinson's company, in Col. Benjamin Ruggles Wood- 
sridge's regiment. His ambition, activity, and the plausible manners 
47 



370 APPENDIX. 

covering the want of acquirements, joined with persona] intrepidity, ob- 
tained promotion, and in 1776, he was appointed lieutenant in Col. Var- 
num's regiment. At a time when the line peculiarly needed reenforce- 
ment, he was detached on the recruiting service, with the promise of some 
suitable reward for the enlistment of twenty men. For this purpose he 
visited his native state, and his unwearied exertions were crowned with 
ample success. When the complement assigned to him was filled, a plan 
suggested itself for grasping honor and pay at once. Finding the pulse of 
patriotism beat high, and the young men of New England were ready to 
devote themselves for their country, he continued his enlistments. Insinu- 
ating address and bold representations, produced impressions of his ability 
and influence, easily turned to his own advantage, and by holding out expec- 
tations of indulgence to those who should serve under his command, a com- 
pany was raised, on the condition that he should be their captain. With 
these men he returned to the camp, where they were mustered. When 
the inspector was about to distribute them to different corps, Shays pro- 
duced the enlistment papers; pointed to the condition which held them 
to serve under himself alone ; and requested the appointment of Captain. 
The necessity of the times prevented the sacrifice of so many recruits, and 
after indignant remonstrances, it was deemed expedient to yield to his de- 
mands. The commission was promised, and issued after long delay, in 
Sept. 1779, to relate back to Jan. 1, 1777. Such is the account tradition 
gives of his military rank. The honors, ill won, were not long worn. He 
was discharged Oct. 14, 1780, at Newark, in New Jersey, from Col. Rufus 
Putnam's regiment. 

The deficiency of honorable sentiment in his mental constitution, may 
be inferred from a characteristic incident. Lafayette had presented, in 
1/80, to each of the American officers under his immediate command, an 
elegant sword. Such pledge of regard from the patriot chief, a soldier 
with a spark of generous feeling, would have cherished as his dearest pos- 
session, and transmitted to his posterity as an heirloom of inestimable 
value. Shays sold the gift of his commander for a few dollars. 

After beimr disbanded, he retired to Pelham, and lived in obscurity. 
Bankrupt in fortune and in fame, Shays was ready to embark on the flood 
of any desperate adventure. Without the energetic decision or enlarged 
conceptions, the strong spirit or the bold daring, which befit a leader, by 
some accident, he was elevated to the command of the insurgents. Of 
capacity too humble to direct the movements of an army in those moments 
when the force of talent makes itself felt by triumphant results, and turns 
even obstructions into encouragements, he was weak, vacillating, and ir- 
resolute. It was providential that the physical power of the arm of rebel- 
lion had so feeble a head to direct its blow. 

With the first shade of adversity, he made indirect overtures to the 
agents of government, to abandon his comrades to their fate, on assurance 
of personal safety: and when his base propositions were rejected, and 
promises of indemnity and pardon were offered to his followers, his per- 
suasions induced them to reject the proffered mercy and retain the arms of 
hopeless controversy, to purchase by their sacrifice security for himself. 

When the insurrection was crushed, he retired to Vermont. After the 
lapse of a few years, the general of the rebellion, passed through the 
streets of Worcester, which he once entered at the head of an army, and 
received assistance from those whose homes he had threatened with deso- 
lation. 

At length he removed to Sparta, in New York. As a pensioner of the 
United States, he derived his daily bread from the government, whose 
forces he had encountered in arms. Declarations filed in the department 



DANIEL SHAYS. 



371 



of war by himself, show that his family consisted of an aged wife, and 
that he lived in extreme poverty. He died, Sept, 29, 1825, aged 84. > 

However much the honor and integrity of Daniel Shays were question- 
ed, his courage was never disputed. He was in the battle of Bunker's Hill, 
at the capture of Burgoyne, and at the storming of Stony Point ; was under 
Lafayette, and did good service in many bloody encounters. A severe 
wound, received during the revolution, was honorary testimonial of intre- 
pidity. When Shepard and himself met at Springfield, the former ad- 
dressed him by the title of general : Shays instantly demanded an expla- 
nation, declaring he claimed no rank but that of captain, and added, laying 
his hand on his sword, that if different designation was given, he should 
consider it insult, and would exact immediate satisfaction on the spot. 

An aged inhabitant of Hopkinton, who was schoolmate of the rebel 
captain, states that he was born on the farm in that town, still called the 
' Shays place,' situated on Saddle Hill, about two miles west of the meeting 
house; that he made his home there principally, until he removed with his 
father, to a place beyond Connecticut river, which, as is supposed, was 
Great Barrington. The estate where his early youth was passed, has long 
been deserted as a human habitation, and the forest which has overgrown 
the forsaken orchard is interspersed at regular intervals, with aged apple 
trees. 

An estimable and respected clergyman relates, that soon after he began 
to preach as a candidate, he was employed at Pelham: on the first Sun- 
day of his visit there, he observed a very well dressed gentleman, with a 
military air, enter the meeting house : immediately, every pew door from 
the bottom to the top of the aisle was thrown open, and he was received 
with the most respectful salutations: this distinguished person was Daniel 
Shays, who had just returned to that town, with the pardon of the govern- 
ment, and lived upon the west side of the east hill. The next day, Shays 
called on the clergyman, and held long discourse about his labors and 
sufferings. He said he had been entirely deceived in respect to the feel- 
ings of the people : that he received assurances if he would collect an 
hundred men, and march in any direction, multitudes would flock to his 
standard. Relying on these representations, he began his march with a 
small force, but found he produced little sensation and that few joined him : 
at night, lie thought it necessary to preserve the appearance of military 
organization and to mount guard, and ordered a man to stand sentry ; ' no 
I won't,' was the reply to the commander, ' let that man, he is not so sick 
as I be' : the second man refused, desiring him to take another who was 
stronger, and the chief of the insurrection found himself without authority 
at the head of a tumultuary army. 

A soldier of the rebellion, who had fled from Springfield to Pelham with- 
out stopping and hid his gun under the barn floor, asked Shays why he 
did not stand his ground ? the reply was ' you know, if I had, I must have 
stood alone.' 

The clergyman describes Shays as an agreeable and intelligent per- 
son, and the day he spent with him as one of the most interesting of his 
life. 

These particulars have been obligingly communicated by Samuel B. 
Walcott, Esq. of Hopkinton. 

1 He married Nancy Haven, a widow. The schedule of his property in 1820, filed 
in Ihe pension office, exhibits a condition of almost utter destitution. It is as follows : 

1 mare, #25: 1 old saddle, #2 501: bridle, 50 : 1 old cutter, #5: 1 old axe, 62 £ 
cents ; 1 hoe, 62 £ cents : 1 table #3 : 3 chairs, #1 12 £ : 1 old scythe and snath, 1 12 £ : 
1 old pail, 12 £ cents : 1 large bible #1 : amounting to #40 62. 



372 



BLACKSTONE CANAL. 



XII. STATEMENTS IN RELATION TO THE TRADE, MANUFACTURES, EMPLOY- 
MENT AND BUSINESS OF WORCESTER. 



Trade. The following excellent 
Blackstone Canal, stated in tons, has 
lector, and was politely furnished by 



To 
Worcester 

Millbury 
Grafton 
Northbridge 
Uxbridge 
Millville 
Blackstone 
Waterford 
Woonsoket 
Manville 
Albion 
Kelly's 
Lonsdale 
From 

Worcester 

Millbury 

Grafton 

Northbridge 

Uxbridge 

Millville 

Blackstone 

Waterford 

Woonsoket 

Manville 

Albion 

Kelly's 

Lonsdale 



1831. 

4300 
876 
968 

1026 
964 
601 
986 
386 

3139 
377 
225 
275 

462 

808 

360 

289 

J 621 

1755 

94 
279 

11 
291 

10 

23 

99 



abstract of the transportation on the 
been prepared by Mr. Eddy, the col- 
Thomas Burgess, Esq. of Providence. 



1832. 

4400 

1140 

1019 
920 

1184 
553 
84 I 
660 

3304 

193 

156 

37 

1800 

890 

223 

158 

1821 

3276 

52 
195 

59 
259 

63 

20 

6 



1833. 

46G3 

1316 

1174 

1280 

1069 

610 

540 

540 

2564 

366 

149 

1274 

848 
171 

236 
1208 
1500 

221 

245 
60 

135 

1 
191 
134 



1834. 

5336 

1533 
909 
428 

1497 
252 
528 
469 

1168 
71 
12 

55S 

826 
187 
110 
5;2 
2617 

226 
64 

86 

1 
79 



1835, 

4694 

1375 

736 

534 

1534 

295 

339 

120 

1965 

417 

291 

35 

807 

739 
183 
158 
233 
1470 

15 

127 

5 

303 

61 

41 
255 

51 



The amount of tolls collected on the Blackstone Canal has been as folia* s 



In 182S 
In 1829 
In 1830 
In 1831 
In 1832 



$1000,00 

8006,00 

12016,82 

14944,(i7 
18907,45 



In 1833 
In 1834 
In 1835 
In 1830 



$'17545,10 

16464,45 
14433,08 
11500.00 



The following are the principal articles transported on the Can 



Years. 

1834 
1835 
1836 



1834 
1835 
1836 



Coal. 
Tons. 

2759 
3148 
3044 



Iron. 

Tons. 

635 

840 
567 



Flour. Molasses. 
Barrels. Gallons. 

21158 68549 
16278 58323 
10025 2238: i 



Cotton. 
Bales. 

3829 

3500 
3491 

Oil. 

Gallons. 

49957 
43137 
39024 



Wool. 

Hales. 



Corn. 
Bushels. 



2100 24698 

3151 8618 

2048 25174 



Gypsum. 
Tons. 



582 



Leather. 
Ton.,. 

364 

2! >2 
220 



Salt. 
Bushels. 

19631 

18223 
11095 

Wood. 
Cords. 

1500 

825 

1185 



RAIL ROAD. 



373 



Boston and Worcester Railroad. The following statement of 
the business of this road has been communicated by Nathan Hale, Esq. 
From July 1 to Dec. 31, 1835, the receipts were as follows : 

For Transportation of passengers $72912,1? 

Freight 18828,21 

Net income 51222,67 

The whole number of passengers conveyed on the road within the^six 
months, was 72558, making the average of 460 the day : of these, 37700 
travelled over the whole road, and the remainder were taken up or set 
down at one of the stopping places between Worcester and Boston. The 
number of trips was ; with passengers 757, in the average time of 2h. 50 m.; 
and with freight cars, 533. 
The whole amount received from Dec. 1, 1835, to Dec. 1, 1836, was 
For conveyance of passengers $118233,44 

Freight ^^ 1,93— $17807,37 

The freight "carried out from Boston, was 5771 tons: brought in, 
1190 tons. 

The passengers to and from the places mentioned below, in the same 
period, were, 

Brighton and Angler's corner ! 1'i ! ! I 

Newton 403 

Needham and Natick 1061 

Framingham and Ilopkinton 3424 

Southborough and Westborough 2807 

Grafton 2771 

Worcester 111(51—24847 

A large amount of fare w r as taken in the cars where the places were not 
entered. 

The number of stores in Worcester, in 1836, was as follows : For gro- 
ceries 16: dry goods 16; crockery 2 : hardware 3: iron 1 : wool 3 : flour 
and grain 4 : coal 2 : provisions 4 : fruit and confectionary (i : drugs and 
medicines 4: dye stuffs 2: books and stationery 3: music and umbrellas 1 : 
hats and furs 5: shoes and leather 6: dresses and millinery 5 : jewelrv 
and watches 4 : cabinet furniture 2 : carpet warehouses 2 ; drapers and 
tailor's shops 5. 

There are 4 banks : 3 insurance offices : an insurance agency : and 4 
printing offices. 

A statement of the condition of the manufactures and mechanic indus- 
try of any town, exhibiting the aggregate amount of capital invested, the 
number of hands employed, the sums paid for labor, and the annual 
quantity and value of production in each department, would be alike 
interesting and useful. For the purpose of presenting this view of the 
prosperity of Worcester, circular letters were distributed among those en- 
gaged in different branches of business, soliciting information. Acknow- 
ledgments are due to several gentlemen, who kindly furnished full an- 
swers to the inquiries : but, unfortunately, some have felt reluctant, even 
for such general purpose, to communicate facts : and many, under the 
pressure of their engagements, have not found time for any reply. The 
results obtained were so incomplete, that in forming an estimate of the 
whole, it would have been necessary to substitute conjecture for certainty, 
in filling up many intervals. As the whole value of such statistics de- 
pends on that degree of accuracy which it was impracticable to attain, 
after much labor and trouble bestowed by others, the compiler has been re- 
luctantly compelled to leave the accomplishment of an object so desirable, 
to those who may be more fortunate in their efforts for obtaining materials. 



374 



EXECUTIONS. FESTIVALS. 



XIII. EXECUTIONS. 

As Worcester has been the seat of the Courts of justice, these dread- 
ful exhibitions have taken place here. The following are all the execu- 
tions which have occurred within the county since its foundation: 1737, 
Nov. 20, Hugh Henderson, alias John Hamilton, for Burglary: 17b'8, 
Oct20, Arthur, a negro, for Rape : 1770, Oct. 25, William* Lindsay, 
for Burglary: 1778, July 2, William Brooks, James Buchannan, Ezra 
Ross, and Bathsheba Spooner, for the murder of Joshua Spooner of Brook- 
field: 1779, Nov. 11, Robert Young-, for Rape: 1783, June, 19, William 
Huggins and John Mansfield, for Burglary: 178G, Aug. 17, Johnson 
Green, for Burglary: 1793, Oct. 31, Samuel Frost, for the murder of 
Elisha Allen of Princeton : 1825, Dec. 7, Horace Carter, for Rape. 
No one of these criminals were natives of Worcester, and but three were 
born within the county. 



XIV. FESTIVALS. FOURTH OF JULY. 



The anniversary of national independence 
in this town. The gentlemen named below 
addresses of those designated by a star, have 



171)1 


*Edward Bangs. 


1810 


1795 


*Joseph Allen. 


1817 


1796 


*Francis Blake. 


1818 


1797 


*01iver Fiske. 


1819 


1798 


*Samuel Austin. 


1820 


1799 


Pelatiah Hitchcock. 


L822 


1800 


*Edward Bangs. 


1823 


1801 


*Isaac Story. 


1824 


1802 


*Zephaniah S. Moore. 


1825 


1803 


John W. Caldwell. 


1820 


1804 


*William Charles White. 


1827 


1805 


* Daniel Waldo Lincoln. 


1829 


1808 


*Estes Howe. 


1830 


1810 


*Levi Heywood. 


1831 


1811 


*Samuel Brazer. 






*John W. Hubbard. 


1832 


1812 


*Francis Blake. 


1833 




*Enoch Lincoln. 


1834 


1813 


Thomas Snell. 


1835 


1814 


*Rejoice Newton. 






Edwin A. White. 


1836 


1815 


*Peleg Sprague. 





has usually been celebrated 
have delivered orations : the 
been printed. 
*John Davis. 
*Pliny Merrick. 
* Austin Denny. 
*Edward D. Bangs. 
Charles H. Warren. 
Jonathan Going. 
Francis B. Stebbins. 
William Lincoln. 
Richard H. Vose. 
Charles Allen. 
Thomas Kinnicutt. 
John Davis. 
Peter C. Bacon. 
Samuel M. Burnside. 
Edwin Conant. 
George Folsom. 
*Edward Everett. 
Franklin Dexter. 
[Boston & Worcester Rail 

Road opened.] 
Benjamin F. Thomas. 



375 



INDEX. 



[As the table of contents indicates the principal subjects, the index relates chiefly to 
the names of persons mentioned in the work The rolls of minute men on page 1C9, 
and lists of municipal officers on pages 356, 7, 8, are not included.] 

Ballantine, Lt. Col. John. 40, 46. 

Bull, J a me-. 162. 

Bancroft, David, 65, 101 : Rev. Aaron, 
154, 180, 196, 197, 198, 199, 200, 201, 
203, 285, 303, 325. 330, 208, 305, 306, 
348 : George, 273: Moses. I6'2. 

Bangs, Judge Edward, 149, 153, 155, 196. 
233, 334', 360. 374: Edward D. 158, 
238,246,325,326,334,374. 

Banks, 327. 

Barber, Joseph, 121 : John, 161 : Wil- 
liam, 295 : James, 359. 

Barbour, Robert, 48. 

Barnard, Rev. Thomas, 197 : Lewis, 
348. 

Ban, -It, Thomas, 39. 

Barron, John, 16 : Benjamin, 46. 

Barristers at Law, 230. 

Barton, Ira, 252, 306, 326. 

BMy, John. 48. 

Baxter, Mr. 344. 

Bayley. Silas, 80. 

Bearers, 13. 

Beamis, Joseph, 12. 

Bfeclwr, Rev Lyman, 215: Edward, 191. 

Beers, Lt. Richard, 4. 6, 7. 8, 9, 32, 365. 

Belchar, Andrew, 2,3,364: Gov. 59, 168. 

Bellows, Benjamin, 39. 

Bemis, John, 29. 

Benlley, Elder William. 206. 209: Dr. 
William, [Salem,] 233, 324. 

Betoghom, Simon. 28, 368. 

Bigelow. Joshua, 12: Joshua, 67,71,78, 
80. 84, 98: David. 46. 121, 122. 128: 
Col. Timothy, 76, 78, 80, 102. 1C8, 109, 
196, 113.277, 311 : Hon. Timothy. 149, 
266.325: Daniel. 102.233,235,265,277, 
332. Abijah, 252: Tyler, 270: Andrew, 
273: Henry. 274: Dr. Jacob, 301 : Si- 
las, 361,366: Mary, 162: Andrew, 
268, 281 : Lewis, 326 : Silas, 366 : fam- 
ily. 271. 

Bimelick Brook, 31,352. 

Binney, Thomas, 46. 

Blurts, free, 310. 

Blair, Abraham. 18. 49. 

Blake, Francis 235. 333,334, 374 : Joseph, 
235: Francis Arthur. 273: Harrison 
Gray Otis. 274: Flias, 347. 

Blashfteld, Harvey. 327. 

Blood, Oliver Hunter, 261. 

Boardman, Rev. John, 217, 222. 



Abagail, Indian, 28. 367. 

Abbott, Rev. J. S. C. 216, 213, 223, 306. 

Abercrombie, Rev. Mr. 47, 193. 

Act, banishment, 120. 

Adams Pres. John, 176. 203, 228, 255, 
299: Rev. Zabdiel, 165,197, 198, 202: 
William 12: Aaron, 46: Rev iVheini- 
ah, 217: James, 316. 

MsM, National, 155. 243, 244, 333, 348. 

Aldrich, Rev. Jonathan, 212, .'.'.;. 

Allen Hon. Joseph. 122. 134, 285, 330: 
Rev. Benjamin 46. 26 1- : Kev. Isaac, 
199: Joseph, 235,-268, 37k 121, 128, 
196,302: George, 191. 223,272, 327, 
330: Charles, 248, 3ZG.330. 360, 374: 
Joseph, 264: Samuel, sen. 330: Sam- 
uel, jr. 327: Rev. Joseph, 330. 

Alston, Mrs. 235. 

Amherst, Gen. 65. 

Andrews, Samuel, 2, 31, 364; William S. 
218. 

Anniversary, Centennial, 53. 326. 

Anthony. Yvannashawakum, 28. 

Appleton, Professor, 170, 173, 

Annij. last requisition for men. 128 : Orga- 
nization. 109 : Oxford, 154. 

Arnold's Expedition, 113. 

Artillery, Regiment, 110, 117 : Company, 
152, 157, 331 

Associations. 329. 

Atherteum, 327. 

Atherton, Thomas, 33 : James, 39 : Is- 
rael. 258. 261, 324: Joshua, 228. 

Alhol, petition, 136. 

Atwood, Philip, 8, 11,14,29. 

Austin, Rev. Samuel. 174. 182, 183,186, 
187, 206, 208, 213,216,374: Benjamin, 
333 : Jonathan L. 333. 

Avenue, Columbian, 31, 42, 221. 

Avery, Rev. Joseph, l'JO. 

B 

Babbit, Thomas. 324. 

Babcock, Aaron Gardner, 262. 

Bacheller. Stephen, 324. 

Bailey, Silas, 308. 309. 

Baird, Daniel, 109, 139 : Thomas, 161. 

Baker, Justice. 144. 

Baldwin, .Nathan. 69, 76, 79, 126, 176: 

Christopher Columbus, 249, 325, 334, 

335 : Benson C. 301. 



370 



INDEX. 



Borachoag, I 7. 

Bond, William, o.j. 

Boston, 1, 113, 133: Executions in, 27: 

Pamphlet, 7.j. 
Boundaries, 3; 6. 
Bounties, 114, 118, 121, 122. 
Bourne. Rev. Shearjashub, 1GG : Hon. 

Melatiah, l(Jo. 
BotOelle, Samuel, 299. 
Boi/dcn, Daniel, 161. 

y>'/v„/. i94. 

, fcapl. 23. 

Unccc, Rev. John. 199, '272: Samuel. 
321, 361 : Samuel. Jr. 244, 334, 374. 

Breck, Dr. Samuel, 173, 254. 

Brewer, Col; Josiah, 311. 

Brigdin, Joseph. 31D. 

Brighton, Samuel. 12: David T. 231, 320. 
Robert Breck, 327. 

Brookfidd. 15, 16, 19,22,23. 

Bi-o^ Mill, 31, 13 

Brooks, Major General, 144. 

Brook, Kettle, 352 : Tatnick, 352 : Bea- 
ver, 352: VVeasle, 352: Pine Meadow, 
352: Rear, 352: Mill, 352. 

Bfioicn, Thomas, 8, 12, 29, 33, 44, 46: 
Lieut. Luke, 65 : Luke, 270 : Ichabod, 
44,46: Capt. 105: Samuel, 269: Ja- 
cob, 318: J. & N. 316: John. 

Bryant, Ira. 362, 

Buildings, Public, 341. 

Bull, Isaac. 33. 

Burbank, Gardner. 272 : Elijah, 321, J. 

Bumside, Samuel M. 238. 303, 306, 
37 !, 

/.'., 'ss, Thomas, 330, 372. 

Burnett, Luther. ■ 

Burr, Hon. Peter, 169: Rev. Isaac, 167, 
192 : Rev. Aaron. 170. 

Burrill, Rev. John T. 220, 223. 

Bush, Abie!, 31*. 

Butler, James, 46 : John Simpkins, 
231. 

Butman, Benjamin, 327, 330. 



Cabot, George, 267. 

Cadets, Independent, 331. 

Caldwell, William, 48, 49 : William, 

Sheriff. 153, 233, 344 : Joseph B. 238; 

John W. 374. 
Calicos, printing, 322. 
Caly, James, 39. 
Cambridge, l. 
Campbell, Rev. Mr. 171 : William, 80, 

100, 110: John, 172. 173. 
Canada. Philip visits. 22. 
Canal, Blackstone, 339, 372. 
Cannon. 113,331 : long iron, 42. 
(,'apen. Rev. Lemuel, 330. 
Carriel, Nathaniel. 80, 
Carrington, Edward, 339. 
Carter, Elias, 348 : Horatio L. 331 : 

James G. 326. 
Carpets, Weaving. 321. 
Catholic Society, 219. 
Chabanakonkomon, Dudley, 11, 16, 17, 

367. 
Chadwick, Capt. David, 119: Daniel, 361. 



Chamberlain, Dea. John, 179 : John Cur- 
tis, 276: Henry Vassal!, 270: Levi, 271. 

Chandler, John, 274: Major Gardner, 65, 
98,99: Clark, 91, 111: Col. John, 51, 
53, 54, 275, 346, 347 : Hon. John, 58, 
179, J75 : Capt. Thomas, 153, 331: Na- 
thaniel. 111. 223. 265: Thomas. 268: 
Gardner L. 268 : Rufus, 120, 2,:;. 264, 
276 : George, 261 : William, 111, 120, 
265: Samuel, 153, 347, 265 : Hon. John, 
275,342 • Charles, 26(5, 347. 

Chapin, Thaddeus, 162: Benjamin, 162, 
260, 303 : Ebenezer, 360 : Eli, 162. 

Chaplin. Rev. Ebenezer, 183. 

Chapman, Rhodes B. 300, 327. 

( liase, Elijah, 43 : Anthonv, 327, 331. 

Child, Jonathan, Go: Moses N. 214. 

Church, Indian. 17: Covenant, 171, 183, 
06, 217, 222. 

Churches, 346 : Deacons, 223: Communi- 
cants. 223. 

Citadel, 30, 31. 

Clapp, Daniel. GO. 

Clark, John, 48, 192: Rev. Josiah, 222 : 
Elam, 214 : Joseph, 162 : John F. 345. 

Clerks, Town, 358. 

Clothing, requisition, 120. 

Clocks, lower and church, 322, 347. 

('adnata, Rev. Dr. 191, 

Coes, Rebecca S. 305. 

Communication, 316. 

'. Edwin, 252, 326, 374. 
<rd, 1, 19. 

' ress, Provincial, 98, 100, 101: Coun- 
ty, 118 

'iirut River. 23 : Road, 7, 12, 23 

Cor, , 122, 1 i3, 158. 

Convi 1 . 138: County, 119, 133. 

Converse, Rev. Otis, 211, 308, 309: Jo- 
seph, 309. 

Gov. 117. 

Ceoledge, John, 157.331. 

Corbett, Otis, 303, 308, 309, 327 : Caro- 
line M. 305. 

Corbin, James, 34. 

Corduroy, manufactured, 321. 

Cornell, Rev. Joseph, 209. 

Corn, 21.27. 

Corps, Rifle, 

Correction, County House, 344. 

Cail in"'. Samuel. 333. 

Council, oidcr. 265,367. 

Counsellors, Mandamus, 94. 

Country, Nipmuck, 16, 20,365. 

County, 101, 102. 133: incorporated, 58. 

Court, Indian, 18: order, 363, 364, 368. 

Courts, First,' 58. 

Cowdert, Thomas, C>6. 

Cowell, John, 33. 

Covenant, solemn league, 92. 

( V iwford, John, 51 : Robert, 48. 51, 253 : 
William. 66,254,299. 

Crafts, Edward, 97, 110: Thomas, 110. 

Crane, Benjamin, 12. 

Crosbee, Benjamin, 43 : Joseph, 46. 

Curtis, John, 12, 65: Samuel, 76, 126, 
132. 162: Ephraim, 4, 5, 7, 9, 11, 14, 
19, 20, 43, 45, 161, 365, 367: Capt. 155: 
George Ticknor, 255. 



INDEX. 



377 



Gushing, Judge, 78 : Col. 142. 
Cushman, Joshua, 182. 
Cutler, Capt. 23. 
Cutting, Francis, 360. 

D 

Dale, Hervey S. 308, 309. 
Damond, John, 8. 

Dana, Richard, 8, 12, 29 : Joseph, 8 : Ja- 
cob, 12 : William, 97, 110. 
Daniel, James, 33. 
Danson, George, 32, 46. 
Davis, Ehenczer. 133 : John. 59, 246, 303, 

325, 3-26. 330, 339,348, 374: Isaac, 213, 

248, 306,308,309, 327, 359: Andrew 

Jackson, 252. 
Dawes, Thomas, 233. 
Day, Luke, 117. 
DeBernicre, Ensign, 106. 
Deeds, Indian, 10,28, 364, 367. 
Denny, Thomas, 98: Austin, 247, 272, 

334, 374 : Daniel, 321 : Nathaniel P. 

326. 
Depreciation, scale of, 125. 
Dexter, Hon. Samuel. 266. 
Dickinson, Rev. Baxter, 215 : William, 

327. 
Dingley, Dr. Amasa, 301, 
Districts, School, 297, 298, 299 : Centre 

School, 301. 
Divisions, 337. . 
Dix, Elijah, 255/263, 302 : William, 268 : 

Henry Elijah, 272. 
Doolittle, Ephraim, 62, 69, 71, 80, 176, 

231,311: 
Dorr .y Howland, 335. 
Dubler, Tom ,24. 
Dudley, William, 40, 46 : Gov. 41. 
Duncan, John 48. 
Dunlop, Rev. Mr. 194. 
Durant, James, 299. 
Dutton, James, 33. 
Dwiglit, Brigadier, 61. 
Dyer, Joseph, 176, 226. 

E 
Eames, Gershom, 12 : Thomas, 22, 26. 
Earle, John Milton, 332, 335. 
Earle \ Williams, 361. 
Eaton, Benjamin, 32 : Joshua, 224. 
Education, 296. 

Elder, William, 91, 162: John, 162. 
Eliot, Rev. John, 16, 17. 18, 28, 179: 

John, 46. 368. : James, 239. 
Emerson, Mr. 173. 
Emigrants, Scotch, 47, 191, 238. 
Emigration, 311. 

Emmons, Rev. Nathaniel, 183, 214. 
Encampment, British, proposed, 107. 
Eustis, William. 333. 
F.r ins, Israel, 182. 
Everett, Joseph T. 309: Edward, 325, 

374. 
Excise. 62, 335. 
Executions, 374, Military, 27. 
Exports, 323. 
Extent of the town, 336. 

48 



Factory, Cotton, 322. 

Faith, articles, 171, 183, 196, 206, 
217. 222. 

Farnham, Daniel, 229. 

Farrand, Andrew, 48. 

Farnsworth, Benjamin F. 307. 

Fay. John, 12, 29: Capt. 110: ReT. 
Warren, 191. 

Fessendcn, Stephen, 226. 

Field. John, 56. 

Fire Department, 359. 

Fires, and injuries bv Liahtniwr, 359. 

Fisher, Joshua, 2 : Rev. Abiel, 308, 309 : 
Maturin L. 251, 325. 

Fish. David, 11 : 32. 

Fiske, John, 257 : Rev. John, 191 : Rev. 
Nathan, 259: Jonathan, 162: Rev. 
Elisha, 215- Dr Oliver, 259, 323, 324, 
326,374: Robert Treat Paine, 273." 
Thomas, 301. 

Fitch, J.imeB, 34: Daniel, 34: Ebene- 
zer, 182. 

Fitton. Rev. James, 219, 220, 309. 

Fitzgerald, Rev. Edward, 166, 191. 

Flagg, Michael, 12: Miscal,29 : Rich- 
ard. 44, 62 : Benjamin, 46, 57, 69, 
89, '108, 109,297,299,313: Benjamin jr. 
51, 55, 58, 109, 119, 313: Asa, 65: 
John, 213, 362 : Abel, 362 : Samuel 
A. 235: Samuel, 146, 149, 360: 
Enoch, 154, 303, 331, 361: Elisha, 
361 : Ebenczer, 173 : Mrs. Dollv, 
205: Nathaniel, 2d. 361. 

Fletcher, Benjamin, 46 : Samuel, 53. 

Flint, John, 11 : Rev. Abiel, 182 : Wal- 
do, 326. 

Folsom, George, 252, 301, 374. 

Forbush. James, 48. 

Forbes, Rev. Eli, 226. 

Fort, old Indian, 13: Tory 95. 

Fortresses, ancient, 31, 42. 

Foster, Hon. Dwight, 153. 230 : Alfred 
Dwight, 222, 248,306, 327,330, 331. 

Fox, William B. 362. 

Foxcraft, Francis. 33 

Fowle, Zechariah, 288, 2S9. 

Fr, (man. Junes. 233. 

Frink, Dr. John. 323, 324. 

Fulham, Francis, 50. 

Fuller, John, 80. 

Furgerson, James, 43. 

G 

Gage, Gov. 98, 101, 107 : Address to, 

99, 101. 
Gale, Abraham, 139. 142 : Henry, 151. 
Gallatin, Allien, 3-4. 
Gano, Rev. Stephen, 209. 
Gaol, 341. 

Gardiner, Henry, 105. 
Gardner, Nathaniel, 170 : Rev. Andrew, 

161: Henry, 299. 
Garrisons, 13. 36. 43. 
Gates. William, 109, 117: Isaac, 301. 
Gay, Rev. Dr. 229 : Rev. Samuel, 222. 



378 



INDEX. 



Gazetteer, Independent, 333. 

Geer, Charles H. 332. 

George, Isaac, 33. 

Glasford, James, 48. 

Gleason, Thomas, 45 : Benjamin, 61. 

Goddard. Benjamin, 214 : Perley, 309 : 
Daniel, 213,309. ' 

Gaffe, Rev. Joseph, 189. 

Goodalc, John, 212. 

Goodivln, Isaac,250, 306, 326. 327, 3-29 : 
James, 65. 331. 

Goodrich, Rev. Charles A. 130, 139, 
213 : Rev. Samuel, IC9 : Jesse W.252. 

Gookin, Daniel, 2,3,6,7,3,9, 10, 11, 
15, 16, 17, 20, 21, 26, 29, 31, 32, 33, 
324, 364, 365, 367 : Sheriff Daniel, 
346 : Samuel, 11 : Nathaniel, 28, 368. 

Going, Rev. Jonathan, 209, 210, 301, 
303,306,307, 331, 374. 

Gowing, Robert, (see Going.)211. 

Gorham, Capt. 20. 

Gore, country, 161. 

Goulding, Peter, 33,46: Daniel, 149, 
155, 166: Palmer, 44, 297, 302: Ig- 
natius, 347. 

Graham, Duncan, 43. 

Graves, Samuel, 157. 

Gray, John, 46, 5 1: William, 43 : Rob- 
ert, 48 : Matthew, 43. 

Green, Thomas, 254 : John. 205, 254 : 
John, 258 : John, 260, 271, 302, 321 : 
Elijah Dix, 269: Timothy, 161, 235 : 
William E. 233. 237, 270, 331 : Doct. 
[Ward.] 115: William N. 251, 334: 
Rev. John, 211: Rev. Samuel, 216, 
217. 

, Nathaniel, 227, 

Grt nleaf, William. 110: Joseph, 290. 

Grievances, complaints, 132, 134. 

Griffin, Charles. 334. 

Grout, Moses W. 335. 

Grover, Lyman, 8 : Stephen, 8 : Thom- 
as. 8. 12, 14: Lazarus, 8. 

Groves, Thomas, 29. 

Gui/fuid, Nathan, 301. 

H 

Hadley, 23,38. 

Haq-gatt, Thomas. 43, 46. 

Hague, Rev. William, 211. 

Hair, Edward, 63. 

Hale, Joshua, 322 : Nathan. 373. 

Hall, Willis, 133: Rev. David. 169: 

Thomas, 11, 12. 14. 29, 33: Geor-e 

Holmes, 263 : Talmage, 318. 
Hall, Town, 44. 34S : Antiquarian, 336, 

349 

lelon, James. -13. 
Hamilton, Micah, [Mo=es] 149: Sewall, 
31: Elizabeth B.305 : Martha S. 

305: Charles A. 327, 332. 
Hancock. John, 101. 
Harris, Rev. Thaddeus, M. 199. 263, 

Sol, 325: Clarendon, 44: William, 

53: Kesinah, 313. 
Hot r/,y. Zachariah, 257. 
Harrington, Capri Nathaniel, 155 : Rev. 



Timothv, 197, 202: Jubal,251, 35 ; 
Lois W. 305: Jacob, 360: Oliver, 
362. 

Hart, James, 161. 

Haskell, Abraham, 324. 

Hassanamis^et. [Grafton] 16, 18, 21, 
23, 27, 43, 366, 367. 

Hastings, Simeon, 157: William, 326. 

HasivcU, Anthony, 332. 

Haives, Rev. Joel, 215, 217. 

Hawley, Joseph, 229 : Capt. Ehsha, 61. 

Haynes, John, 2, 33, 34, 363: Josiah, 
2,363: David, 42. 

HazeUine, Simeon, 142. 

Headty, Benjamin, 39. 

Heard, Nathan, 157, 345. 

Hemcnway, Jacob, 63 j Edward H. 
323. 

Henchman. Daniel, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 21, 
23, 26, 29, 30, 32,33,46, 296,365, 
366, 367 : Nathaniel, 32, 44. 

Henry, Anthony, 283. 

Henshaie, Daniel, '251 : William, 80, 
99 : Joseph. 98. 

Herald, Mass. 332 : American, 332. 

Her, irk, Rev. Osgood, 219. 

Hcrbert t Jean, 63. 

Hersey, William, 8. n 

wood, Daniel. 42,46, 57. 62, 164, 
331, 341, 349 : Josiah, 46 : Phinehas, 
80: Nathaniel, 117: Levi, '239, 301, 
37 1 : Benjamin F. Z61, 272 : Hon. 
Benjamin. 283, 284, 330 : John Healv, 
274: Phin : Benjamin, 153. 

Hilliard, Rev. Timothy, 197. 

Hill, Rev. Alonzo, 199, 306,348. 

Hills, 352. 353: Pakachoag, 32, 33 353 : 
W igwam, 17, 28, 353: .Sagatabscot, 35, 
41, 13, 353 : Stone House, 95 : Mill- 
stone, 349, 353 : Indian, 353. 

Hitchborn, Col, 141. 

Hitchcock, Pelatiah, 374. 

Hoadley, Rev. Loammi Ives, 215, 216, 
303. 

Hoar. Dr. Leonard, 11, 46. 

Holbrook, Capt. 23 : Abel, 119 : Sylva- 
nus, 3C9. 

Ilolden. Samuel, J61 : John, 112 : James 
51 . 55. 

JJoldin. [town,] 6,30, 161. 

Holland, John, 53. 

Jlolman, Co). 117. 

Holmes, James. 44, 46, Jacob, 295: 
Rev. Abiel, 325. 

Holyoke Dr. Edward A. 255: Rev. Ed- 
ward, 170. 

Homans, John, 263. 

Honestus, celebrated papers, 131. 

IloorrawannoniU. Sagamore, 10, 17, 
36 t. 

Hopkins, Rev. Samuel, 183. 

Hospital. Lunatic. 160. 345. 

J l»u pg,43 : Court .3 12. 361 : School,348. 

Houghton. John, 49. 

Howard. Rev. Simeon, 197. 

Howe. Thomas, 36, 38, 40, 42, 46 : Ba- 
tes, 374 : Joel, 143, 148 : Levi, 361. 



INDEX. 



379 



Hubbard, John; 57 : Jonathan, 44 : Jo- 
nas. 103, 109, 113, 276 : John VV. 137, 
214, 247, 374 : Levi, 277, 311. 

Hull, Rev. Aretius B. 139, 303. 

Hunt, Ephraim, 34 : Dr. Ebenezer, 255. 

Hutchinson, Gov. 69, 78: Capt. Ed- 
ward, 19,365: Elisha, 39. 

Hyde, Mr. 316. 

I 

Imports, 323. 

Indian, War, 14 : Tribes, 16: Settle- 
ment, 17: Hostilities, 19, 34,35,37, 
38,51,57, 164 

Indians, 13, 16, 22 : Nipmuck tribe, 18, 
22: Narragansetts, 322,365: Massa- 
chusetts, 16 : PawtucUets, 16 : Mo- 
hawks, 16 : Pequots, 16 : Norwich, 34. 
Destroyed, 27. 

Independence, 114, 121, 291, 374. 

Infantry, Light, 331 : Resolutions, 154 : 
March to Boston, 157. 

Insurance Company, Mutual, 327 : Ma- 
nufacturers, 32G ": Springfield, 328, 

Insurrection, 130. 

Ives, Moses B, 339. 



Jacques, Abiel, 360. 

Jarvis, William, 333. 

Jeffries, Dr. John, 269. 

Jenkins, Joel, 12, 29. 

Jennisoa, William, 60, 166, 341, 342: 

William, 330: Rev. Samuel, 166: 

Samuel, 303, 325, 327, 329. 
Jeivetl, )vers, 162. 

John, Sagamore,10, 17, 19,24,25, 26. 37. 
Johnson, Edward, 2, 3. 4, 364: John, 62, 

155, 331 : Joshua, 91. 
Johnston, Rev. William, 192, 193. 
Jones, Nathaniel. 46, 57 : Noah, 65 : 

Phineas, 51, 149. 

K. 

Kellotrg, Joseph. 51 : Elijah, 182. 
Kellough. Racliael, 349 
Kelso, Hugh, 48. John, 84, 93. 
Kendall, Jonas, 330 : Peter, 348 
Kettell, John P. & C<>. 362,' 
Kimball, Charles O. 212. 
Keyes, John, 36, 59. 
King, Rufus, 233 : Peter, 46, 
Kinnicutt, Thomas, 249. 327, 374. 
Kirkland, Rev. John T. 199. 
Knapp, Henry, \G : James, 46, 51. 
Knight, Daniel. :72: Jerusha, 305 : Jo- 
nathan, 361 : Edward, 97. 
Knowllon, J. S. C. 334. 
Knox, Gen. Henry, 339. 



Lafaijette, 370: visit, 158. 

Lancaster, William. 344. 

Lancaster. 15. 18, _J, 34 

Lands Public, 349, ' 

Latham, Dr. James, 257. 

Lathrop, Rev. John, 197. 

Lawrence, Micah, 299: Abel, 67: Mr. 



173, 

Latell, Warren, 301, 305, 331. 

Lebere, Monsieur, Johiij 63. 

Lee, Samuel, 8 : Henry, 44, 46. 

Legislature, removal, 139, 

Leonard, Jacob, 33, 46 : Moses, 44, 46, 
55, 57 : Isaac, 46. 

Letters, Fanners, 232. 

Levenz, Goodman, 34. 

Lewis, Mr. 229. 

Lexington alarm, 103. 

Lillie, Dr. Ebenezer, 257. 

Lincoln, Benjamin, 101, 148, 149, 150- 
Levi, sen. 122, 128.' 151, 196, 198, 
!30, 235, 302, 306, 333: Levi, 158, 
237, 271, 303, 325, 326, 330, 331 : John 
W. 157, 331, 339, 345 : Daniel Waldo, 
[Son of Levi, sen.] 271,374 : Enoch, 
214, 331, 371: William, 249, 273, 306, 
325, 326; 327,329, 33 1, 335, 374 : Abra- 
ham, 153, 326 : Daniel Waldo, 253, 
273 : William S. 273, 331. 

Livennore, Daniel, 146 : Moses, 80. 

Loan, 119, 

Longevity, 313. 

Lorlhog, Robert, 48. 

Lovell's war, 50. 

Lovell, Ebenezer, 93, 109, 119. 

Lyceum, 330> 

J ynde, Joseph, 33, 256. 

Lynn, inhabited, 1. 

M 

Maancsit, 16, 367. 

Maccarty, ('apt. Thaddeus, 174: Rev. 
Thaddeus 108. 173, 174. 176, 180, 194 
257: Nathaniel, 317,325: Doct. Thad- 
deus, 257. 

Magazines, 33.5 : Historical Journal, 335 : 
Worcester Weekly, 335. 

Maiden, I, 3, 51. 

Manchaog, Hi, 17,367. 

Manning, William, 332. 

Manufactures, 321. 

Manufactory, card, 321. 

Map, first, II. 

Maquas, or Mohawks, 16. 

Marble, Jonathan, 46 : Joel, 309. 

March, Andrew. 362. 

Marlbon u h, I, 3,7, 10, 14, 15, 17, 18, 
20,22,23,27,38,40. 

Marsh, Samuel, 170, 173.299. 

Marietta, Ohio. 182. 

Mason, Hugh, 2 Mrs. Mary, 36. 

Massai rt, Gl. 

Mathet; Rev. Richard, 179. 
us, I I. 18, 25, 26. 

Mayhew, Rev. Jonathan, 173. 

Mattamuck, 2 k 

Mc Clentick, John, 48. 

Mc Farland, William, 214: James, 178, 
295 : Andrew, 46, 4# : Daniel, 65 : Asa, 
269 i Andrew D. 253. 

Mc Gregoire,Rev. Mr. 48: James, 48. 

Mc Han, William, 48. 

Mc Konkey, John, 48: Alexander, 48. 

Mc Lellan, James, 48. 51, 55. 

Meadow, Pine, 4, 30, 33, 337. 



380 



INDEX. 



Meeting first Town, 50. 

Meeting Houses, 6, 45, 164, 193.209, 213. 
215,219,221, 346, 362: presbyterian, 
191, seating, 180. 

Menclon, 15„ 25. 

Merrick, Pliny, 247, 326, 334, 348, 374. 

Merrill, Rev. J. A. 220. 

Mevrifield, Alpheus, 348. 

Meyling, Simon, 8, 11, 12. 14, 29. 

Miller, Isaac, 43, 46: Rev. Rodney A. 
190, 223 : Moses, 270. 

Mills, 31, 32, 43. 

Mills, Rev. Edmund, 189, 215. 

Mines and Minerals, 353. 

Minute Men, roll, 109. 

Minot, Stephen, 46, 160. 

Minzies, John, 178. 

Moody, Master, 233. 

Moore, Deacon Nathaniel, 41, 44, 51,\55, 
57, 164, 223 : Nathaniel, 42 : Isaac, 91 : 
Maj. William, 282. 

Morse, Rev. Jedediah, 213. 

Mmion, Andrew, 235,301. 

Mortality, 311. 

Mount Bi^elow, 279. 

Mosehj, Capt. 23, 27. 

Mower, Thomas Gardner, 272 : Nathan- 
iel, 361 : Ephraim, 155 : Nahum, 333. 

Murdoch, Rev. Thomas J. 214. 

Murray, John; 98, 102. 

N 
Nannaswane, 28, 367. 
Nashaway, IS. 23, 24. 
Nashobah, 24, 27. 
Natick, 27, 367. 
Nuzro, John, 302. 
Nehemiah son of Matoonus, 25. 
Nelson, Rev. John, 189,190,217, 219, 

223, 271, 301. 
Neutrals, French, 62. 
Newbury, Trial, 11. 

Newcomb, Joseph W.253 : Henry K. 327 
Newhall, Jonathan, 65. 
Newport, contribution, 120. 
Newton, Rejoice, 239, 327, 348, 374. 
Nichols, Thomas, 155, 257. 
Nipmucks, 16, 19, 22. 
Norton, John, 9, 
Northville, 337. 
Nosoonowit, 11, 365. 
Noivell, Increase, 1, 2. 
Noyes, Thomas, 2, 3, 4, 5, 363, 364. 
Nugent, Mrs. Academy, 306. 
Numphow, Sagamore, 10, 365. 

O 

Occonomesset, Marlborough, 10 : Orthog 

raphv. 10. 
Officers', Public, 294, 295. 
Oliver, Judge Peter, 78, 86. 
Onnomog, Sagamore, 10, 365. 
Orchard, first, 45: Apple Trees, 27. 
Osgood, Jonathan, 324. 
Otis, Harrison Grav, 267 : James, 290. 
Oulton, John, 43, 46. 
Oxford, 34, 35. 



Page, insurgent 141. 

Paine, Timothy, 67, 94, 126, 196,235 264- 
Nathaniel, of Bristol, 39, 264-' Dr 
William, 91, 120, 255, 265,325 : Samu- 
el Clark ; 65: William, of Boston 46 
Samuel, 110, 111, 265: Henry, 251 :Na- 
thaniel, 233, 235, 265: William Fitz 
271 : Frederic W. 204, 271, 303 327 
348: Rev. William P. 218, 219 ■ Judo-e 
Robert Treat, 343: Rev. Elijah, 219° 

Pakachoag, 10, 11, 15, 16. 17 18 'l9 c '0 
21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 38, 353,367 : Orthog- 
raphy, 24. 

Palmer, Thomas 43, 46: 

Pamatjuesset, 6. 

Panasunet, Sagamore, 28, 367. 

Paper, manufacture, 43, 301. 

Park, Dr. John 307, 331 : Calvin 301 

Parks, John, 342. 

Parker, insurgent, 141. 

Parker, Jonas ,214 : Rev. Nathan, 301 

Parishes, 163, 194, 205,213, 221. 

Parmeter, George 36, 38, 45. 

Patch, Nathan 302. 

Paul, John 12,27: Silas 301. 

Pun tucket, Tribe, 16. 

Payson, Thomas, 301, 302, 306. 

Peables, John 48 : Robert, 48 : Patrick 
48. 

Peabody Rev. David, 218, 219 2 C >3- Mr 
170. ' 

Pease, Levi, 317, 319. 

Peck, Albion P. 301, 305: Abraham, 61 
William D. 325. ' ' 

Pequots, HI. 

Perrin, Hannah C. 305. 

Perry. David, 218, 273: John, 39 : Bax- 
ter, 27:3 : Clark, 273 : Ebeiiezer, 39 : Jo- 
siahG. 331. 

Peter, Indian, 24. 

Phillips. Edward, .308, 309 : Mr 170 

Phipps, Robert, 307. 

Pickering, Rev. George, 220. 

Pierce, Josiah, 82, 84, 89, 92, 313. 

Places, Burial, 45, 349. 

Plain, Raccoon, 32. 

Polls, ratable 3J3, 314. 

Ponds and Streams, 351. 

Pond, Enoch, 182. 

Poor, 314. 

Pope, Rev. Joseph, 266. 

Population, 45, 310. 

Post-office, 205, 317, .322. 

Potatos introduced, 48 

Potash works/321. 

Pottoquam, Simon, 24. 

Powers, Edward, Eveleth, 332, 

Pratt, Thomas; 8 : Silas, 61 : William 
253: Abigail, 305. 

Prentice, Capt. Thomas, 4, 6, 7 8 9 11 
12, 23, 26, 29, 32, 33, 34, 46, 365, 367 : 
John, 53, 172 : John, [Marbleheadl 99 : 
Samuel, 259, 323. 

Prmtiss, Charles G. 251, 326. 

Prescott, W'illiam, 267. 

Prices of articles, 117, 122. 



INDEX. 



381 



Prisoners, British, 113, 136. 

Prince, James, 333. 

Provender, John, 8, 12, 14. 

Psalms, Version, 179. 

Puffer, Rev. Reuben, 189. 

Punkapaug, 27. 

Putnam, Col. James, 64, 67, 91, 98, 102, 

111,120,327: James, 111, 265 : Amos, 

205 : Gen. Rufus, 267. 

Q 

Quabaog, 14,15, 16,19,23. 
Quantisset, 16, 367. 
Qtiassawake, 28, 367. 
Quebec, Expedition, 113. 
Quinsigamond, 2, 4, 7, 14, 16, 17, 18, 22, 

23, 27, 28, 32, 43, 160, 351, 363, 368 : 

Orthography, 2. 

R 

Rail Road, Boston and Worcester, 340, 
374 : Norwich and Worcester, 340 : 
Western, 340. 
Reed, William, 8 : Christopher, 32 : 

Alexander, 272 : John, 301. 
Regulators, 138. 
Represe?itatives, 358. 
Revolution, American, 67. 
Rice, Jonas, 40, 41 , 43, 46, 49, 50, 58, 296, 
299 : Josiah, 46 : Ephraim, 46 : Ger- 
shom, 40, 41, 45, 49, 50, 52, 61 : Eph- 
raim, junr. 46: James, 44, 45: Adoni- 
jah, 40, 61, 62 : Joshua, 43, 45 : Moses, 
44, 51 , 56: Peter, 49 : Tyrus, 62 : Aaron, 
63: Timothy, 113: Jonathan, 92, 97, 
128, 149 : Elisha, 45 : Matthias, 161 : 
Zebediah, 51: Samuel, 53, 295: George 
T. 348 : George M. 362 : Lt. Col. 154 : 
Families, 41. 
Richards, Joseph, 8 : John, 8: David,213, 

214. 
Richardson, Thomas, 161 : Mr. 166 : 

George \V. 252 : John H. 253. 
Ripley, Rev. George, 199 : Henry J. 211. 
River, Fort, 30, 31 : Nipnapp, 2, 351 : 
Blackstone, 352: Nipmuck, 352: 
French, 35'^ : Halfway, 34, 352. 
Road, Connecticut, 12, 23, 43 : Leices- 
ter, 42 : Lancaster, 12, 42 : Boston, 
42 : Nipmuck, 12 : Country, 12, 44. 
Roads, 337. 
Roberts, Abner, 61. 
Robinson, Thomas, 80. 
Rocks, Rattlesnake, 47. 
Rogers, Mr. of Littleton, 170 : Richard, 

297, 299 : Henry, 334. 
Ropes, Judge, 78. 
Roper, Ephraim, 51,53,350. 
Rosburij, George, 33. 
Rowland, William F. 182. 
Ruo-gks, Hon. Timothy, 59, 63, 72, 98, 

102, 235. 
Russell, Jonathan, 326. 

S 
Sachem, Sam, 24: 
Sagatabscot, 35, 36, 353. 
Salem planted, 1. 

49 



Salisbury, Stephen, sen. 75, 84, 101,277 : 

Stephen, 272, 306, 308, 309, 326, 361. 
Salter, Enos, 33. 
Samuel, Indian teacher, 10. 
Sampson, Rev. Abisha, 212. 
Sasomet, 28, 367. 
Savings Institution, 329. 
Sawyer, Joseph, 3'.': I'.lias, 39 : John, 39. 
School, Manual Labor High, 307, 319. 
Schools, 296 : Centre, 301: Sunday, 307. 
Scots, Colony, 47. 
Selectmen, 356. 
Seminary, 302: Mount St. James, 220, 

309. 
Serjent, Digory, 32, 35 : Martha. 35, 37, 
46 : John, 37 : Thomas, 37 : Daniel, 37: 
Mary, 37. 
Settlement, first, 11 : second, 23 : third, 40. 
Sever, William, 231: Samuel, 39. 
Shattuck, insurgent, 141 : Daniel, 37, 51. 
Shaw, John. 12. 
Shays, Daniel, 141, 146, 148, 149, 150, 

151, 369. 
Sherman, John, 80. 
Shepard, Alexander, 132 : Dr. Levi, 255: 

Gen. 149 
Sikes, Reuben, 317. 319. 
Silt, Capt.21,23, 366. 
Situatio?i of the town, 336. 
Skinner, Thomas, 8, 29 : Rev. Thomas 

H. 219. 
Smith, John, 46: John, 76, 109 : Thomas, 
39: Chandler, 262, 263 : John M. 262. 
Henry, 274: Capt. (Barre) 135, 137 : 
Stephen H. 339 : Jonathan, 301: Rev. 
Mr. 189: Washington, 214. 
Snell, Rev. Thomas, 190, 191, 374. 
Snow, Henry, 351. 

Society, American Political, 76 : Agricul- 
tural, 325 : Antiquarian, 293, 324. 
Societies, Religious, 163. 194, 195, 205, 
213, 219. 220, 221 : Medical. 323 . His- 
torical, 326: Auxiliary Bible, 329. 
Soldiers, number. French wars, 66 : rev- 
olutionary. 128. 
Speen, James, 18, 28, 360. 
Spafford, Hannah, 306. 
Spramie, Rev. William B. 215: Hon. 

John, 235, '236 : Peleg, 374. 
Spring, Rev. Samuel, 183. 
Springfield, 7. 
Spurr, Samuel D. 309. 
Spy, Mass, 41, 91, 92,99,111,115,121, 
125. 152, 233, 239, 247, 265, 278, 287, 
289,318,332,335, 360. 
Square, Adams, 42, 337. Lincoln. 42, 277. 
Stage, first effort to establish, 317. 
Stages, Lines, 320. 
Stanton, John, 149. 
Starkey, John, 8. 

Stearns, Daniel, 63: John, 16, 62: Dr. 
Samuel, 145, William, 121, 128,232, 
265,332: Bezaleel, 360. 
Stebbiris, Francis, 374. 
Stevens, Benjamin, 170, 173. 
Stockwell, Amos W. 308. 
Stone, Jonathan, 69,71,89,92,97, 101, 
103,119,178: Rev. Micah, 171,190, 
191. 



382 



INDEX. 



Story, Rev, Daniel, 182 : Joseph. 323 : 

Isaac, 374. 
Stow, Kev. Baron, 212, 
Slowell, Kbcnezer, 321 ; Peter, 321, 360: 

Abel, 322. 3J7: Cornelius, 126,360: 

William. 362: Benjamin, 66: Leonard 

W. 362.' 
Streets, 337. 
Strong, Solomon, 326. 
Studley, Zenas, 362. 
Sturlevant, Isaac, 331. 
Sumner, Rev. Joseph, 183, 190. 
Sullivan, James, 151, 333. 
Sutton, Dr. William, 237. 
Swan, William. 178: Samuel, 301. 
SwUlaway, Henry. 8. 
Switcher, Wiggles worih , 53. 
Swqueakeag , [Northfield,] 6. 
Sylvia, African, 313. 



Talisman, Worcester, 335. 

Tataesset, 10, 17, 37, 353. 

Tatmick, 17. 

Tavern, First. 44: Sun, 114, U. S. 
Arms, 136, 139, 143, 132: King's Arms, 
94, 113 : Jones'. 106 : Hancock arms, 
143, 145 : Brown and Butinan, 341, 
361. 

Taxation, 314. 

Taylor, Olhniel, 75 ; Samuel, 214 : Rev. 
Nath. W. 139 : William. 12, 29, 38 : 
Hon. William, 40, 46: James, 44, 46. 

Tea, 74, 126. 

Tenney, Rev. Caleb J 188. 

Tewksbury, Thomas, 8. 

Tliaxter, Levi, 236, 327, 331. 

Thatcher, Joseph, 1 I . 

Tliayer, Rev. Dr. Nathaniel. 199, 330. 

Thomas, Isaiah, 92. 107, 115, 128, 153. 
139, 196, 204. 287,291,294,316,324, 
325. 332, 335, 338, 344, 347, 349. 360: 
Moses. 287, 291: Isaiah, jr. 273,292, 
325, 332 : Benjamin F. 252, 273, 374 : 
David, 282. 

Thomas, (Indian,) 21,22. 

Thornington, James, 48, 

Thorn/on, Thomas, 8 : Theophilus, 8 : 
Matthew, 48. 

Thurber, Charles, 301,305. 

Toasts, 4th of Julv, 115. 

Tomlin. Matthew/33 : Isaac 33. 

Tom, Capt 26. 

Tomlinson, Rev. Daniel, 190. 

Torrey, Joseph, 215 : William, 9. 

To/man, Jabez, 161. 

Towne, William M. 251 : Salem, 157, 
341.. 

Townsend, Penn, 33. 

Trade. 322. 

Train', Rev. Charles, 212. 

Travelling, 320. 

Treadaway, Nathaniel, 2, 363: Jonathan, 
8, 12. 

Treadtvell, William. 110, 149, 152, 331. 

Treasurers, Town, 358. 

Trees, apple, 27. 

Tree, Richard, 29. 



Trowbridge, (Judge) 78, 80, 224 226 

Trowbridgerille, 337. 

Trumbull, Dr. Joseph, 292: George A 

327, 332 & 

Tufts. George A. 326. 
Tnrell, Daniel 33 : Mr. of Medford, 170. 
Turnpikes, 338. 
Tyler, John. 80. 
Tyng, Jonathan, 46, 54. 

U 

Unadi/la. Colony, 193. 

Upham, Phineas," 8, 11, 14, 20: John, 29 : 

Joshua, 73. 
U.ppanippaquem, 24. 



Vail, Rev. Thomas H. 221. 

Valuation, 313. 

Varney. James, 299. 

Village, Quinsigamond, 337. 

Villages, Nipmuck, 15: Manufacturing, 

337. b ' 

Visitor, Familv, 335. 
Vose. Richard "H. 249 : Edward J. 250 ■ 

Itoger, 301. 
Votes, lor Governor, 154, 369. 

W 

Waban, Thomas, 24, 28, 368. 

1 1 abquisset, 16. 

War hi/set, 22, 23, 37. 

Waentug, 16. 

Waight^ Joseph, 12, 14. 

Waldo, Cornelius, 43, 46 : Daniel, 209, 
214, 215, 267,325, 326, 327, 329 : Dan- 
iel, sen. 145,317, 327. 

Walker, Nathan, 80: Adam, 111, 120: 
John, 62 : William, 257: George, 257 : 
Nathaniel, 48: Rev. John, 211, 212- 
Cato, 315. 

Walcott, Samuel B. 371. 

Walley, Mr. 173. 

Wallis, James, 161. 

Wamessit, 10. 27. 

Wannashawakum, 28, 367. 

Wamushannohannawit, 28. 

War, Queen Anne's, 35: French, 51 : 
Prisoners, 156. 

Ward, town,6, 16,17. 161- 

Ward, Gen. Artemas, 81, 135, 138: Ar- 

■ temns 2nd, 332 : Samuel, 65-, Obadiah, 
43,45: Riehard/43,45: Hezckiah,61: 
Daniel, '14: Elisha, 3S : William, 39. 
59: Nahum,59: Uriah, 51,53: Jona- 
than, 109: Mary S.305: Samuel, 332, 
348. 

Warner, Gen. 141, 145, 149. 

Washington, visit, 152 : funeral honors, 
154. 

Washburn, Capt. Seth, 109, 144 . Dr. 
Seth, 262 : Ichabod, 309 : Emory, 223, 
250,326: Ebenezcr D. 301. 

Waters, Rev. George, 212. 

Watertown, 31, 32, 33 : occupied, 1. 

Wattasacompanum, 16, 18, 21, 26. 

Way, Lancaster, 44. 



INDEX. 



383 



Webb, Benjamin, 12, 29, 

Weeks, William, 33 

Wells, Mrs. A. M. 307. 

We s hakim, 16, 23, 24. 

Wesson, Silas, 1 13. 

Wetherby, John, 36. 

Wheeler, Thomas, 19, 365 : Adam, 134, 

135, 141, 142: Isaac. 46: John, 39: 

William D. 326, 327 : Theophilus, 149. 
I 303, 326 : Joseph, 128 : Olis C. 251. 
Whipple, Moses, 361. 
While, Rev Thomas, 167: Wm. Charles, 

270, 334, 374 : Joseph, 309 : Elienezer, 

5(5 : Justin, 63 : N alhan, 155 : Edwin A. 

374. 
Whitejield, 167, 168,225. 
Whilcomb, Jonathan, 39 : Ephraim, 53. 
Whiting, Joseph, 190 
Whitney, Ebeuezer, 257: Samuel, 97; 

Joshua, 84, 120. 
Whittamore, Pelaliah, 8 : Daniel, 8: John, 

332. 
Whittlesey, Rev. Mr. 189. 
II igo-lesworth, Dr. 170. 
Wide, Rev John, 219. 
Wilder, John, 8 : Joseph, 58 : Josiah, 

59. 
Wildes, Edward, 8. 
Wiles, Richard, 39. 
Will, Mulaiio, 32. 
Wi/lard, Nahum, 65, 254. 
Willard, Samuel, 59, 263. 264: Rev. 

Frederic A. 211,212,306, 308, 309: 



Josiah, 59 : Abel 98: Joseph, 224 : 

Maj Simon, 20. 
Williams, Rev. Mr. 170, 173, 183 : Na- 
thaniel, 299 : John, 142. 
Wilson, James. 205. 
Wins:, John, 32,34,43. 
Winthrop, Ad, mi, 33, 34, 40, 46, 57, 160 : 

Hon. Thomas L. 325. 
Winslow, Gen. John, 62. 
Wisner, Rev. Benjamin B. 215. 
Woodard, Jonas. 161. 
Woodstock, Hi, 34, 58,274. 
Woodbridge, Jonathan E. 223. 
Woodward, Samuel 15. 261,346. 
Woonaskochn, Sagamore, 10, 18, 364. 
Workman, William, 262. 
Wood. Rev Benjamin, 189, 215. 
Woods. Joseph, 53, 117. 
Worcester, Leonard, 301. 
Worcester, 32, 160 . County, 50, 58: 

North, 30, 160: New, 44, 337 : South, 

337. 
Wright, Samuel. 51,54,55, 56: John, 

307. 
D 'ijman, Ross, 102: James, 299. 



Yeoman, Massachusetts. 247, 334. 

Young, Ilonrv, 19: William, 48, 75/71, 
82.114,295: John, 49, 299, 313: Da- 
vid, 49: Rev. Alexander, 199: Dr. 
David, 149. 



CORRECTIONS. 



' Reader, Carthagena was of the mind that unto those three things which the ancients 
held impossible, there should be added this fourth, to find a book printed without erra- 
ta. It seems, the hands of Briareus, and the eyes of Argus, will not prevent them.' 

Mather's Magnai.ia. 



Page 



1 


Line 10 


4 


29 


17 


17 


99 


23 


149 


24 


191 


6 


219 


35 


230 


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237 


26 


238 


1 


244 


7 


246 


21 




22 




23 


247 


23 


249 


17 




34 


251 


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261 


32 


300 


13 


301 


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' region,' 


reac 


country. 


' had sold, ' 




had sold their lands. 


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Western. 


1 ubjoined,' 




subjoined, 


' Micah,' 




Moses. 


'1821,' 




1819. 


' 1812,' 




1822. 


' secretary of the,' 


secretary of. 


' 1835/ 




1834. 


' 1817,' 




October 9, 1816. 


'literation,' 




literary. 


< 1824,' 




1823. 


' 1825,' 




1824. 


' 1825,' 




1824. 


' Gov. Brooks,' 


Gov. Eustis. 


' 1824/ 




1826. 


' twenty/ 




thirty. 


' 1832 and 1836/ 


1836. 


'1816/ 




1810. 


'2/ 

' Fitchburg 


, 


2A. 

Leominster. 


' Lexington 


Ky.' 


Cincinnati, Ohio. 



The words Pakachoag, and Hassanamisset, sometimes erroneously appear with 
slight variations from this orthography. 

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